Rebecca Torres, doctoral candidate in Geography at the University of California, Davis (UCD),
prepared this monograph as a thesis proposal while she was a Masters student in the International
Agricultural Development program at UCD. She also prepared a complete set of survey
questionnaires for the proposed evaluation project. The monograph and accompanying survey
instruments are available for downloading as zipped WordPerfect files.

A serious episode of pulmonary thrombis prevented Ms. Torres from completing the evalutation
she had so carefully crafted. She has asked that it be made available through the Duckweed
Clearinghouse in the hopes that it may prove to be of use to other projects conducting similar
evaluations.

This document's most important contribution is an excellent comparative review of the Shobuj
Shona rural development paradigm which provides a cost-effective and viable alternative to the
more common development systems modelled after the successful BRAC and Grameen Bank
programs. Included as appendices are all necessary legal documents required to replicate such a
Shobuj Shona system in most countries around world - certainly in those nations that have
borrowed from the British legal code.

Ms Torres' proposed evaluation was to have focused on the role of women in the Bangladesh
Shobuj Shona project. She has, therefore, provided a useful review of global WID and gender
issues, in addition to an excellent general introduction to contemporary development issues in
Bangladesh.

Finally, the monograph presents a good introdution to "duckweed aquaculture," a new cropping
system developed by the PRISM group, which is remarkable for its ability to profitably treat
wastewater and generate vast quantities of high protein food (via fish, poultry and livestock) for
protein deficient populations.

Following her recovery, Ms Torres completed a Masters Thesis based on her original research on
coastal farming communities in Northern Peru. She subsequently conducted an important study
of farmers markets in Cuba, and is now engaged in field research examining the linkages between
tourism and agriculture in Quintana Roo, Mexico. The latter research will contribute to her
doctoral dissertation in Geography at the UCD.

The Shobuj Shona Village Enterprise (SSVE) project utilizes an innovative Lemnaceae
(Duckweed) technology in a franchise-like network of village enterprises to improve village-level
protein production, create employment activities and capitalize poor rural populations. The
project targets women, among other landed and landless sectors of the population, in an attempt
to empower women and poor people through enterprise, income generation and asset
accumulation. This paper proposes a thesis which will describe and evaluate the SSVE model,
focusing primarily on women's role in the project. It will concentrates on examining the effects
participation has had on female members with respect to their economic condition, social status,
and family/household relations. The study will utilize interview surveys, technical knowledge
assessment checklists, time use studies and case studies. Surveys will cover all 5 existing SSVE
villages, including 15 female participants, 60 male participants, 6 project coordinators, 15 spouses
of female participants, 15 children of female participants, 15 females of neighboring para
households (non-SSVE), and 10 females of neighboring non-SSVE village households. There
will be 136 in total, utilizing 7 distinct survey instruments. Technical knowledge assessments
will be employed to observe the technical duckweed production capabilities of 20 (10 male and 10
female) randomly selected SSVE participants, 4 from each of the 5 existing SSVE village
corporations. Time use studies to observe female activities will be conducted on 8 randomly
selected women, 4 SSVE project participants and 4 non-participants. Case studies of women's
lives will be developed based on selected time and motion studies and supplemental interviews.

The PRISM group was founded six years ago as an international non-profit organization focused
on generating local and family enterprise within rural communities in developing countries. As
put forth in the PRISM mission statement:

"PRISM researches powerful ideas and develops them into innovative opportunities to increase
productivity. We want to offer rural families a realistic alternative to either urban flight or further
destruction of their environment. We are, therefore, dedicated to creating sustainable, rural
enterprises that provide the opportunity to work and prosper."

(PRISM Annual Report, 1990)

PRISM Bangladesh was created as an affiliate of the PRISM Group in 1990. PRISM Bangladesh
is autonomous and exercises full control over local decision making, yet shares with other member
organizations of the PRISM Group a common enterprise-driven approach to rural development.
The PRISM Group provides international support and exercises control over decision making at
an international level. Both entities share several of the same board members and most projects
are collaborative efforts between the two. For the purpose of this paper "PRISM" will refer to
the collaborative effort between PRISM Bangladesh and The PRISM Group.

Many of PRISM's core technologies are derived from a 10-year research and development effort
concentrated on Lemnaceae ("duckweed"), a family of aquatic macrophytes that contain up to
50% protein and attain production levels exceeding one tonne per hectare per day under
favorable conditions. These plants are an excellent protein source for balanced livestock and fish
feeds. They can also be eaten directly by humans, either alone, in a salad or as a garnish.

Lemnaceae's rapid growth characteristics, combined with its unique ability to filter solids from
water, while simultaneously preventing growth of algae species provides the basis for an efficient
water and wastewater treatment system. Lemnaceae wastewater treatment systems developed by
PRISM have demonstrated, for the first time, the feasibility of providing comprehensive treatment
of a community's wastewater at no cost (to the community). Systems now functioning in
Bangladesh and Peru have demonstrated the capability of consistently generating net profits while
also treating wastewater to standards higher than the strictest now mandated in the US.
Lemnaceae plants also demonstrate halophyte characteristics, allowing cultivation in marginally
brackish water and desalination of agricultural runoff..

The Shobuj Shona Village (SSV) Enterprise project in Bangladesh exemplifies PRISM's mission,
both to foster rural enterprise and promote increasing application of Lemnaceae technologies.
The SSVE project, a collaborative effort between PRISM Bangladesh (local) and The PRISM
Group (international), seeks to create opportunities for employment in rural Bangladesh through
an integrated aquaculture system based on the semi-intensive, continuous culture of Lemnaceae,
and Lemnaceae-fed tilapia and carp species. Support for, and replication of, SSVE project
enterprises closely resembles franchise operations now so familiar in western countries. These
franchised village units or corporations closely resemble one another, in both form and function, as modern profit-making industries - while still retaining characteristics unique to rural
Bangladesh.

A principal objective of the SSVE project is to develop a new model for empowering rural
Bangladeshi women through enterprise formation, income generation and asset accumulation.
Women become shareholding partners in village level corporations by contributing either labor or
land. SSVE corporation profits are distributed quarterly to shareholders as dividends. In addition,
women (and other shareholders) typically work as employees for their corporations, serving as
either duckweed or fish aquaculture workers. In return, they are paid a basic wage and a
performance bonus based on the productivity of their respective mixed gender production teams.

Various aspects of this unconventional approach challenge the current social, economic and
cultural status quo of the rural Bangladeshi village. Despite this, current levels of beneficiary
participation; duckweed production achievements; and high local demand for project expansion
are strong indicators that the project is financially successful and enjoys strong local community
acceptance.

In its first year of operation the project has achieved distributed fish production averaging 10
tonnes per hectare - more than twice the productivity of achieved by the hitherto best village
fisheries project in the history of Bangladesh (Danish-assisted Mymensingh Fisheries Project in
north-central Bangladesh) The SSVE project has been met with such enthusiasm that numerous
local groups have approached, and continue to approach, PRISM asking to form their own
corporations. This, despite having to surrender title to their personal land in the name of the
corporation. The prospects for future expansion of the model appear to be excellent.

In addition to the 5 existing corporations, the UNCDF has approved $1.9 million for developing
40 new village corporations. The Dutch government is also funding 20 additional SSVE
corporations under the first phase of a $13 million World Bank sponsored duckweed research
project to be located at PRISM's current Mirzapur research facility. The new research facility,
with a core staff of 4 international scientists supported by 20 Bangladeshi scientists, will perform
basic research on Lemnaceae species, their use in wastewater treatment systems and their
application as feed for fish and livestock.

The current success enjoyed by the SSVE project, combined with its good apparent prospects for
expansion and replication, suggest that the SSVE model itself merits close examination. Its
innovative approach to women in development (WID) should be documented and evaluated in a
time when women's crucial role in development is widely recognized, yet so few successful
models exist. It is the purpose of this thesis to describe and evaluate the SSVE model, and to
evaluate its first major application in villages near Mirzapur and Shibaloy, Bangladesh. The
evaluation will focus on the role of women in the project. It will examine the effects participation
has had on female members with respect to their economic condition, their social status, and their
relationships with their families, households and communities. The evaluation will also look at the
role of women in the SSVE project and the effect women's participation has had on project
productivity and internal corporate relations.

It is important to note that the evaluation described here will only enable an interim assessment of
the project as implementation is not yet sufficiently extensive or mature to draw final conclusions.

All field research activities will be conducted as a project evaluation. Collated data and interpreted
results will be presented to all project participants as formal feedback. It is intended that results
of the evaluation enable project planners, managers and field level participants to improve project
design and execution.

This thesis proposal is structured as three major sections:

The first section provides an introduction and background material which includes: a) a
Bangladesh country background, b) a review and discussion of global WID themes, c) review of
the current circumstances of women in Bangladesh, and d) a discussion of contemporary forces
for change in Bangladesh.

The second section describes the SSVE model and compares it with other conventional
development.

The third section proposes a scope of work for field research activities which includes: a) a
summary description of the evaluation, b) detailed evaluation parameters, c) developing
evaluation tools, d) the evaluation design, e) data collection and other logistics, and f) data
processing and analysis.

Remaining sections will include personnel, a time line, a bibliography and a budget and some
pictures.

A brief summary background on Bangladesh is useful in providing a context for the SSVE project
and the work proposed in this thesis.

Bangladesh Basic Statistics

Area

143,998 km2

Population

109 million (1989)

Annual Pop. Growth

2.8%

GNP Per Capita

US$170

(PRISM, 1991)

Bangladesh has few natural resources and is still experiencing relatively high population growth
rates. Although Bangladesh is only the size of the state of Wisconsin, its 109 million inhabitants
live in only 20% its land area. The remaining 80% of the land mass is covered by water during
the yearly 5 month monsoon and post-monsoon seasons. Bangladesh's population is still
primarily rural, with only 10% living in towns and cities.

Bangladesh's social and economic development is hampered by a literacy rate of 25% (Quddus,
1985; PRISM, 1991), poor health and nutrition, and an inefficient bureaucracy. Per capita GDP is
among the lowest in the world. Approximately 44% of the GNP is generated by the agricultural
sector which accounts for 40% of bulk exports and employs 75% of the work force (PRISM,
1991).

Given Bangladesh's agrarian economy, the ability to earn a living for most Bangladeshi's is a
function of their access to agricultural land and fresh water resources. The landless in Bangladesh
are, therefore, trapped in poverty. The incidence of landlessness is extremely high due to
immense population pressure on limited land resources. In the 1983/4 agricultural census about
46% of rural households owned less then 0.5 acres, and were considered to be functionally
landless - owning insufficient land to provide an inadequate source of household income. The
census found that the average family farm size had declined from 3.53 acres in 1969 to 2.25 acres
in 1984 (Bangladesh, Bureau of Statistics, 1986; Hossain, 1988).

Women, for the most part, qualify as landless since the amount of land or property they may
acquire is limited through the Muslim Law of Inheritance and local social norms (Quddus, 1985).
The situation is aggravated by the fact that many plots of land and bodies of water are derelict or,
at best, under-utilized because of land disputes among multiple owners and a chronic shortage of
capital and technology (Skillicorn, 1993).

Rice is the principal crop in Bangladesh. With annual production of 27.6 million tonnes
(Economist, 1993), Bangladesh ranks fourth in the world. With rapidly increasing production of
wheat, Bangladesh is now considered self-sufficient in production of food grains. Much of this
increased production has come, however, at the expense of protein production. The average
Bangladeshi consumes less protein today than he did at the time of (Pakistan's) independence
from Great Britain. Production of pulses has not experienced a "green revolution" and growth
has therefore not kept up with the massive population growth of the last half century. A major
absolute decline has also occurred in the production of fish, which is the preferred form of dietary
protein for most Bangladeshis. A combination of poor management of Bangladesh's massive
natural freshwater resources, and a significant decline in Ganges river water releases have seen a
50% real decline in the fish catch during the last decade alone.

Freshwater capture fisheries contributes significantly to Bangladesh's fisheries sector which
accounts for 5% of the GNP while also employing a disproportionate percentage of the nation's
poor. Prospects for improving productivity of the resource are limited in the short run. The
damage to the natural ecology has been significant and will require decades to remedy.
Freshwater aquaculture has potential for rapid expansion in Bangladesh, where large areas
experience either seasonal or continual inundation. Despite the fact that intensified aquaculture
production technologies are well established, most poor farmers have no access to the technology
and could not afford to apply it if they did. This is due, in part, to poor agricultural extension
services, but poor access to credit shares equal blame. Small and landless farmers and fishermen
cannot provide the collateral (or other inducements) required by the banks. (PRISM, 1991)

Despite these serious development problems Bangladesh has significant immediate potential for
improvement. The nation's abundant water resources are an invaluable asset when they are
managed and used efficiently. Although land is relatively scarce, most plots are producing well
below their productive capacity due to either capital, technology or other input (extension,
quality seeds, pesticides, fertilizers) constraints. In addition to under-utilized land and water
resources, Bangladesh possesses an enormous, largely untapped, human potential. Not only is
there a large labor force available, but the country has thousands of young university trained
professionals who cannot find employment appropriate to the level and focus of their education.
All of these resources, with proper investment and management, could enormously benefit the
poorest strata of Bangladeshi society - and through them, the nation as a whole.

Contemporary rural development in Bangladesh is dominated by four primary forces: 1) The
bureaucracy, which proudly traces its lineage down through the Civil Service of Pakistan, the
(British) Indian Civil Service and finally to the Moghuls; 2) the bilateral and multilateral aid
agencies; 3) international private voluntary agencies (PVOs); and more recently, 4) the
Bangladeshi non-governmental organizations - the NGOs. Each has, at some time, held sway
over the process.

In the immediate aftermath of the War of Independence (from Pakistan), through the early 1970s,
the international PVOs were all-powerful, with OXFAM, CARE, CRS, ADRA, Lutheran World
Relief, World Vision, Save The Children, Ford and Rockefeller leading a host of lesser institutions
to develop a national social safety net and prescribe the shape of rural development. Gradually,
the bureaucracy, led by a core cadre of officers trained under the Civil Service of Pakistan found
both its muscle and its confidence. This had the effect of increasingly constraining the almost
cavalier freedom which had characterized the early PVO programs. CRS pulled out,
embarrassed by a "blanket scandal." OXFAM found more compelling crises elsewhere. Ford
Foundation pundits, the self-appointed intellectual primus inter pares among development
experts, stung by charges of arrogance and excess in Ford's third world operations began
focussing increasing attention on problems back in the US. Rockefeller found Latin America and
a focus on the CGIAR institutions more to its liking. CARE settled down to extensive, but bland,
food-for-work and feeding programs - with real control increasingly exercised by US bureaucrats
within the USAID mission (employing PL-480 leverage) at Motijheel in Dhaka.

Gradually, rural development in Bangladesh came to resemble a "negotiated settlement" between
the senior Bangladeshi civil service officers and the USAID mission. Vast sums of money (and
"value") were poured in the country from the US, largely through the PL-480 program. This
effort saw the development of critical agricultural support infrastructure, including research
institutions, fertilizer factories, and power plants. On the other hand, it also created a pervasive
"relief" ethic, as the country was blanketed with the mindless "food-for-work" programs designed
primarily to achieve distribution of US and European surplus food stocks.

As the willingness of bilateral aid agencies to pump money into Bangladesh has diminished in
recent rears, the power vacuum has increasingly been occupied by the multilateral agencies -led by
the World Bank, the United Nations Development Program and UNICEF. This has also placed
increasing emphasis on "projects" versus the less structured "programs" of the past. Form and
elegance - the "process" - came to be better appreciated. "Trips" and "visits" have been replaced
by "appraisal missions." Expensive consultants with Ph.D.s fielded by profit-making consulting
companies like Checci, Harza and Euroconsult increasingly outnumber the ex-Peace Corps types
traditionally favored by the likes of CARE and World Vision.

A small revolving door began to open up as more Bangladeshi economists (among them several
civil servants) got Economics Ph.D.s and moved from the Planning Commission or ERD
(External Resources Department of the Ministry of Finance) to the World Bank and back again.
Everybody has started "doing business" the same way. The Dutch, the Danes, the Swiss, the
Norwegians - even the Americans. They also began to increasingly defer to the World Bank and
its special relationship with key ministers and bureaucrats. Bangladesh became literally saturated
with teams of well-heeled consultants doing "scientific studies" and "appraisal missions" - all of
them well practiced at fitting the results of their investigations into the ubiquitous "Logical
Framework."

Now, a new, and arguably more powerful factor has emerged - the mega-NGO, exemplified by
the Grameen Bank (see footnote 2), BRAC (Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee),
PROSHIKA, GK (Gonoshastra Kendra) and CARITAS. By combining common sense, better
management, and programs that are more directly responsive to the perceived development needs
of villagers themselves, these NGOs now legitimately claim to be doing "what the government,
with the help of the AID agencies, is incapable of doing" - achieving significantly improved
welfare among specifically targeted population groups throughout Bangladesh. Suddenly it is
they, not the government, that holds the answers. Unlike the other development agencies that the
government has hitherto learned to successfully parry - these groups are home-grown and
politically inclined. They wield genuine power. They can go directly to the World Bank and the
UNDP and be listened to - in preference to their government counterparts. More importantly,
however, they increasingly hold the ear of the "average villager." They have earned his trust and
his confidence, and they are rewarded accordingly.

[Footnote 2: The Grameen Bank, classified as a government bank, is not technically an NGO, but
because it is functionally independent of Government, and generally looks and behaves like an
NGO, we apply the "duck test" and call it an NGO.]

The sheer size and visibility of the BRAC, PROSHIKA and Grameen Bank networks is
compelling. BRAC, in particular, has learned the trick of building its shiny new rural office
buildings next to some large, poorly performing government institution - usually a school or some
special development authority - then simply offering to "take it over and run it better." The
NGOs have become a government within a government. As yet, neither BRAC nor the Grameen
Bank have chosen to directly exercise any political muscle - but the simple threat that they may do
so is rendering the government increasingly compliant to their wishes.

For the immediate future, the shape of rural development in Bangladesh will be dictated by the
evolving dynamic of the relationship between the government and the large NGOs. All other
factors pale by comparison. The government has created a Bureau of NGO Affairs - ostensibly to
serve as a clearinghouse for "permission" and "approvals," and thereby facilitating NGO activities.
The effect, predictably, has been the opposite. Now, approval must be obtained from line
Ministries and the NGO Bureaus.

The very existence of the NGO Bureau has made it significantly more difficult for small NGOs to
survive in what has increasingly become a highly competitive environment for "donor funding." It
is very difficult for a small NGO to compete for funds against the slick submissions of BRAC,
GK, PROSHIKA, CARITAS and the Grameen Bank. They must either fund a truly unoccupied
niche, collaborate with the larger NGOs or expire. The "NGO Sector" is, in fact, becoming
institutionalized and bureaucratized. Competition and innovation is being stifled. The larger
NGOs, operating as an oligopoly - a development club - are carefully delineating their physical
domains. Village "Groups" are carefully labeled as "BRAC" groups or "PROSHIKA" groups -
meaning hands off to any other institution. Gradually, whole villages and even Unions are
receiving similar labels (see footnote 3) as the major NGOs stake out their claims and gradually
subdivide the entire country.

[Footnote 3: This trend, where large, mature not-for-profit institutions seek to ensure long-term
survival without having to always "compete" or "innovate" has an analog in the US, with the
"PVO Club" and USAID. The large institutions like CARE, CRS and World Vision lobbied
Congress to pass legislation that guaranteed their future existence in an environment free from
competition. By law, 16% of all USAID funding must go to PVOs. Using a "bureaucratic
efficiency" argument, these same institutions were able to create, post facto, highly restrictive
entry criteria to the "PVO Club." Any US not-for-profit agency now seeking to become a PVO,
and thereby qualify for the "easy PVO money." must conduct a special audit, then meet 6 financial
ratio conditions. The most difficult of these being a "liquidity ratio" of 1.1/1 (i.e., liquidity must
equal 1.1 times total liabilities.) Then, to maintain PVO status an institution must continue to
raise 33% of its revenues from "other than USAID" sources. The latter criterion strongly favors
large institutions with niche (i.e., CRS with catholic churches) or major public fundraising
operations - such as CARE and World Vision.

This has predictably had a deleterious effect on the quality of project and program submissions by
the PVOs. Proposals submitted by the PVOs are markedly inferior to those generated under the
competitive RFP process. In fact, may grant categories are not fully subscribed for lack of
qualifying proposals.]

Other factors making significant contribution to the form and substance of rural development in
Bangladesh today do not differ greatly from those affecting other poor developing countries:
Rural-to-urban migration, "Green Revolution" agricultural technologies, family planning
programs, religious conflict and creeping fundamentalism, female wage jobs, land reform, land
fragmentation and subdivision, rural credit, television & video tape, the modern information
revolution, and rural electrification - among others.

If Bangladesh is to claim any unique factor in its development (not directly related to weather or
geography) it would perhaps be "religious conflict." While Bangladesh is minimally affected by
the creeping fundamentalism now seriously engaging nearby predominantly Islamic states such as
Pakistan and Malaysia, religious identity has, nevertheless, played an important role in determining
the current state of the nation.

Since the region gained its independence from the British in the 1947, the area that now
comprises Bangladesh has witnessed what is arguably the largest wholesale movement of people
in the history of the World. Where East Pakistan was only marginally "muslim" at independence
(approximately 46% hindu and 54% muslim) it is now overwhelmingly muslim (88%). As many
as 25 million hindus have simply packed up and moved to India (see footnote 4). In many
instances they either abandoned their lands and other fixed assets or were forced to sell them for a
pittance. In either case, the redistribution of hindu assets has played a major role in contemporary
rural development in Bangladesh.

[Footnote 4: While precise statistics are not available in India - and the topic is strictly taboo in
Bangladesh - current demographic statistics suggest that between 20 and 25 million people have
migrated from Bangladesh to India between the mid-fifties and 1993.]

Agriculture accounts for 78% of the Bangladeshi labor force, with underemployment estimated at
24% for males and 32% for females respectively (E.B. Wennergren et al, 1984). Agriculture's
contribution to GDP is just over 50%.

No discussion of rural development is complete without touching on the topic of land reform. In
Bangladesh, control over land has moved, since 1950, from the old Zamindari (literally "land
controller") system devised by the Moghuls and refined by the British, to the present circumstance
where 65% of rural households are "functionally landless." (i.e., own less than 0.5 hectares) The
average land holding is now

less than 1 hectare (2.2 acres).

The land ceiling act of 1984 limited family ownership of property to 10 hectares in flood
controlled areas and 14 hectares elsewhere (see footnote 5) and provided significant rights (5 year
minimum lease with a 5 year option to renew) for sharecroppers. It specified precise distribution
of crops from sharecropped land (one third each to the landowner, the laborer and the input
provider) and dictated that the sharecropper must have first rights of refusal if land was to be sold.

[Footnote 5: Absentee land owners are formally restricted to 4 hectares in flood control areas and
7 hectares elsewhere.]

Land reform aside, land in Bangladesh is both more finely distributed and more fractured (with a
farmer's one or more acres typically distributed in tiny packages, sometimes a mile or more apart)
than in any country on earth. Few absentee landlords now maintain active sharecropped farms
(see footnote 6). Land holdings are so small that locally, a "landlord" is now someone who owns
more than 5 hectares of land. Ironically, most critics of land reform prescribe even further
redistribution, citing the inequality between these "landlords" and the landless (M.A. Zaman,
1974; N. Ahmed, 1988). In Bangladesh, which is still over 80% rural, there are simply too many
people (115 million people and 16 million rural households) and too little arable land (22 million
acres) (E.B. Wennergren et al, 1984).

[Footnote 6: The monied elite of Bangladesh have long since abandoned agriculture as a viable
profession.]

Power abuse at the village level lies not so much with distribution of land, but with access to
government services and subsidies. Leases to "khash," (government owned) land are auctioned
off for next to nothing. People securing use of these lands are typically the local power elite. The
Union chairman, or the largest local landlords - or even absentee landlords. Access to agricultural
credit and other subsidies is similarly skewed.

Most agricultural development prescriptions for Bangladesh recommend identical solutions. They
usually state the goal of "increased intensity and efficiency of agriculture." This, in turn, requires
investments in infrastructure: better availability at the farm level of electricity, seeds, fertilizers,
water, equipment, credit, and extension services. Most experts on Bangladeshi agriculture also
recommend increasing investments in "human capital:" more scientists, better trained farmers, and
more efficient marketing. Finally, most still recommend further "equitable" distribution of land by
bringing down the land ceiling to 5 acres. There is, however, a growing minority of experts now
willing to prescribe a land ownership "floor." with a minimum recommended farm size of 2 acres.

Various institutional arrangements are recommended to provide the advantages of scale
economies to cooperating farmers. The Comilla Cooperative model pioneered by BARD appears
to be most heavily favored in the literature. But "savings groups" and "farmer associations" are
also commonly recommended. None, however, have had the temerity to recommend stock
corporations and permanent partnerships with outside institutions as a solution to the problems of
rural development (E.B. Wennergren et al, 1984; N. Ahmed, 1988; S.A. Khan, 1989).

Having made their prescriptions, whether making arguments from a "left" or "right" perspective,
all the experts portray a "future" for Bangladeshi agriculture which is surprising for both its
uniformity - and its pessimism. The leftists lament the fact that collective solutions appear
unlikely, while rightists fear the same fate for "private" solutions. Both groups are in agreement
that the likely solution will be a hybrid system of government controlled and selectively subsidized
cooperative, NGOs, private suppliers and markets.

Bangladesh is an overwhelmingly muslim country, and as with any such country, religious and
social norms prescribe cloistering and veiling (purdah) of women in the homestead (bari).
Purdah, in Bangladesh, has never had the hard edge associated with comparable practice in
Pakistan and muslim states further to the west. This can, perhaps, be partly attributed to the
moderating influence of the more liberal hindu attitudes concerning visibility of women. It is also
attributable to necessity. Most families can no longer afford to practice purdah. Recent studies
suggest that strict purdah is now practiced by no more than 20% of Bangladeshi muslim families,
and these are typically at the wealthy end of the spectrum (F. McCarthy and S. Feldman, 1983, N.
Kabeer, 1991).

There is significant disagreement among Bangladeshi rural development experts concerning
female employment and willingness to seek employment. Official statistics (1974 national census)
cite rural employment at 3.87% of the available female labor force, with an additional 0.12% said
to be seeking employment. At the other extreme, as many as 25% of women are said to accept
regular part-time and seasonal work, and more than 35% will work for food-for-work projects
during times of severe local distress (F. McCarthy and S. Feldman, 1983). Regardless of the
exact figures, there is a clear trend towards more families being willing to break with the
restrictions imposed by purdah, thereby allowing more women to accept wage employment
outside the bari.

Historically, the major earning activity for rural women was milling rice. The traditional method,
involving use of a simple wooden "dhenki" in the home was consistent with the requirements of
purdah. Increasingly, however, milling of rice is now performed in mechanized mills. This, more
than any other single factor, has driven women out of the bari in search of work. Women now
provide the primary labor inputs to such growing rural industries as brick-making and rural
construction (primarily roads, bridges and embankments). Besides wage jobs in agriculture,
however, household cash cropping of vegetables and production of handicrafts remain the most
important sources of income for rural female workers.

Increasingly, women are also migrating elsewhere in search of work - usually to Dhaka,
Chittagong or one of the larger district capitals like Khulna or Rajshahi - but also occasionally to
India. This is having a profound impact on gender relations. Women are increasingly being called
upon to handle cash and manage bank accounts in settings outside the predictable confines of the
household. Up to a million unmarried women are now working in the burgeoning garment
industry - usually supervised by men, and often called upon to return home after midnight. While
once rejected as somehow "sexually tainted," these girls are now increasingly attractive to male
suitors, both for their earning power and for access to whatever wealth they may have
accumulated.

Traditionally Bangladeshi muslim women did not accumulate any wealth. The small inheritance
allowed under islamic law was invariably claimed by (some would prefer use of the words
"deferred to") a brother, cousin or other relative - in exchange for (dubious) assumption of
responsibility by the claimant for the woman's welfare should she become widowed or be
abandoned (N. Kabeer, 1991). Now, attitudes concerning asset accumulation are gradually
changing. While the stimulus provided by the massive recent growth of the garment industry
(growing from nothing to a $1.5 billion industry in a decade) has been a major contributor to this
change, it is also continuously reinforced by the programs of the Grameen Bank, BRAC and
virtually all medium to large NGOs.

The eventual impact this massive injection of female labor into the rural economy will have on the
nuclear family, the extended family, the practice of Islam, and rural development in general - is
uncertain. Judging from the short-term effects, however, the results should, in each case, be
significant.

The following discussion provides a brief description of the current principal development efforts
in Bangladesh which include women as a special target group. The Grameen Bank and BRAC are
generally recognized as the principal agents for rural change working in Bangladesh. Government
development efforts and those of other NGOs will be briefly noted where appropriate.

The Grameen Bank (GB) is arguably the most powerful - certainly the most influential - change-agent for rural development in Bangladesh today. The Grameen Bank is based on the concept of
providing poor people with collateral-free working capital loans to create a mechanism where
landless people may generate productive self-employment. Initiating in 1976 as a Chittagong
University research project, the Grameen Bank was later chartered by the Bangladeshi
government as a formal lending institution (rural bank) to improve the lives of the rural poor.
Since its inception, The Grameen Bank has continued to expanded at a rapid rate. By 1987 it had
298 branches servicing 250,000 households in 6% of Bangladesh's villages. Ownership of the
bank is divided between borrower shareholders who hold 75% of the banks "shares" and the
government with 25% (Hossain, 1988).

With few exception, the GB targets people who own less than .5 acres of cultivable land.
Women, among the most disadvantaged group in Bangladeshi society, have been prominent
among GB beneficiaries. At the end of 1986, 74% of all GB members were women and during
that year 98% of new members were women (Rahman, 1986; Hossain, 1988). Collateral
requirements effectively exclude women from all conventional credit sources. The Bank's policy
of working in target villages has also eliminated the spatial constraint to women's involvement in
credit programs. Also, by working directly with women through female loan officers they may
now receive loans without any mediation by their spouses or male guardians.

The GB mode of operation is to bring banking services to the village doorstep through a network
of rural branches and bank workers who work closely with small groups of borrowers. Potential
borrowers form groups of five like-minded people who share mutual trust and confidence.
Groups are made up of non-relatives of the same sex. Each group selects a chairperson and
secretary from within the group to serve for one year. Chairpersons from the same village form
male and female centers which elect center chiefs.

Members and groups must satisfy a number of conditions before loans are granted. First, after
the group is formed it is closely observed for a month before any loans are disbursed in order to
allow determination that members are conforming to GB protocols. Prospective borrowers must
participate in a 7 day training period that promotes the understanding of banking procedures and
responsibilities, health, children's education and other social development issues. Once all
members demonstrate an understanding of all rules and procedures, two members of the group
receive small one-year loans of no more then 5000 Taka (at a 25% interest rate) to be used for
non-crop activities such as livestock and poultry raising, processing crops and small item
manufacturing. Following two months of consistent weekly repayment (5% of their loans) by the
first two, two additional members of the group may receive their loans. The group chairman is
the last person to receive a loan. In addition to a weekly loan payment, the GB requires that each
member save one taka each week in a collective fund managed directly by the group. This fund
may be used by the group to provide loans to members for illness and social obligations. Only
after all members have successfully paid back their loans under the strictly specified GB terms are
any members eligible for repeat loans.

Despite the fact that the loans are transacted on an individual basis, the entire group is held
accountable for all loans. This means if an individual defaults on the loan, all members of the
group must repay the balance. These group guarantees exert significant peer pressure on
individual borrowers to repay their loans. An outstanding default by any group member renders
the entire group ineligible for future loans.

In addition to providing landless people with working capital to generate self-employment the GB
in 1984 initiated a social development program entitled "sixteen decisions." The goal of this
program is to encourage members to be disciplined, work hard and improve their living standards.
The sixteen decisions promoted better housing and sanitation, the education of children, the
abolishment of dowry marriages, and other codes of conduct members should follow in their daily
lives. Although these 16 decisions are not officially mandatory, their observance has become a de
facto requirement for receiving a loan (Hossain, 1988).

A study conducted by the International Food Policy Research Institute in collaboration with the
Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), Dhaka, in 1988 demonstrated that the GB
achieved 98% loan repayment while succeeding in significantly alleviating poverty in its area of
operation. This compares favorably with other government rural credit programs - primarily
agricultural loans - which average between 20% and 30% loan recovery rates. (See footnote 7)
An important additional finding of the BIDS study was that repayment by women, with respect to
timeliness, was superior to that of men. At the time of the survey 81% of the women members
had no overdue installments compared to male members with 74%.

The BIDS study found that GB members had 43% higher income than a comparable target group
in a control village and 28% higher then a comparable group of nonparticipants in the project
villages (Hossain, 1988). An earlier study in 1986 found that the GB loans increased the income
of 91% of the borrowers (Rahman, 1986).

The impact of the GB on the circumstance of poor rural women was also studied by BIDS in
1986. The study found that female GB participants contributed more than one third of their
family incomes, improved their standards of consumption and gained greater control in the family
decision-making process. The study concluded that membership in the Bank, access to credit,
access to fixed assets, and greater participation in productive activities gave women participants
special status in the family (Rahman, 1986).

The GB success has been attributed to a variety of factors:

Intensive on site loan supervision by loan officers working closely with borrowers.

Rigorous field - oriented training for bank workers providing hands-on experience and personal
insights into village life. This mechanism serves not only to prepare bank staff but it also weeds
out workers who will not be able to meet the rigorous demands of their new postings.

Repetitive, regular and highly ritualized protocols - for both loan officers and borrowers.

The question of long term feasibility and replicability of the GB model is an open one. First,
there is the question if whether the Bank can provide groups loans for collective enterprises. It
has had only limited success in the few such efforts undertaken to date. The inherent difficulty of
managing large groups, combined with a loan officer corps generally unfamiliar with the
underlying enterprise operations typically proves debilitating.

Given the requirement for close and intensive supervision of borrowers and the close
participation of bank workers with borrowers, the GB's high operating costs, its ability to
maintain its intensive services without subsidies from outside sources is questionable. Despite
enormous subsidies, the GB has had to raise interest rates from 16% to 25% to meet escalating
costs. Its huge cadre of once young and idealistic workers is, like any work force, beginning to
age. Workers are getting married, having children - and looking for more security. They all want
their wages to continue increasing. They want better benefits. They want to send their children
back to Dhaka where they can get a reasonable education. They want better working hours and
better working conditions. The dependency on subsidized loans and the earning of profits
through their short term deposits with other banks does not provide a secure mechanism for
future expansion.

Another possible constraint to GB expansion is the dependency on the personal leadership of the
founding manager-director, Professor Muhammad Yunus. The GB program exhibits all the
classic characteristics of the "charismatic leader" syndrome. While the GB has implemented
modern management practices, including introduction of decentralized decision-making this may
not adequately compensate for the early "spark" and "dedication" that was so characteristic of
Grameen Bank transactions. Can the Grameen Bank gradually become simply a "well managed
rural development bank with a good idea and still succeed as it once did? The answer is not
obvious.

The GB's primary focus on non-farm goods and services may also prove to be a constraint for
future growth. Agriculture employs 75% of the Bangladeshi labor force and generates 44% off
GDP. The Grameen Bank simply cannot continue to avoid agricultural lending if it wishes to
grow - and to increase the administrative efficiency of its lending program. In so doing it will
inevitably come to more closely resemble may other lending institutions. The question is not
whether it will have problems with its agricultural loans. It will. The real question is whether it
will successfully mask its operations as those of an NGO - which the Grameen Bank has hitherto
taken great pains to simulate - or whether it will be perceived by more experienced farmers as just
another public sector agricultural lender - albeit in another guise. If the latter perception becomes
pervasive, then the Grameen Bank will probably encounter the same problems as do its sick sister
institutions.

The GB clearly cannot count on massive IFAD-type subsidies in the long run. Nor can it continue
increasing interest rates as it has done in the recent past. Twenty-five percent is already
considered by many experts to exceed "reasonable levels." Unless it fundamentally alters the
basic lending mechanism for which it has become so famous, it has only one possible course of
action: to increase the efficiency of its lending. This means using fewer bank assets (loan officer
hours) to process more loan money. It means using larger and larger groups and spending less
and less time with those groups. It means branching out into agricultural credit. It means dealing
increasingly with male borrowers.

Recent evidence suggests that the Grameen Bank is no more successful than other institutions
when it comes to providing agricultural loans to large groups of male borrowers. A major UN
Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) project channeled through the Grameen Bank and targeted
at rehabilitation deep tubewells has been a disappointing failure to date (personal communication -
PRISM)

Despite these questions on the future viability of the Grameen Bank, the fact remains that it has
had a profound impact on WID in Bangladesh. The GB has conclusively demonstrated that:

Participation as GB borrowers has provided poor rural women with enhanced access to assets and
involvement in productive activities. This has, in turn, resulted in increased incomes and a higher
standard of living for participating women and their families.

Participation as GB borrowers has elevated women's status, both within their immediate family
and in the community as a whole. This has led to significant improvements in decision-making
power at all levels.

Despite the existing socio-cultural barriers imposed on rural Bangladeshi women, as GB
borrowers they have successfully and actively participated in and benefitted from their
involvement in the GB program.

Despite reproductive responsibilities, women borrowers are nevertheless able to participate in and
benefit from the GB program and its resulting productive activities.

Female activities financed by the GB loan typically yield a lower return then male activities
(Hossain, 1985; Rahman, 1986). This may be attributed in part to the fact that a larger
percentage of female loans are directly consumed rather than invested - due, no doubt, to the
more intimate involvement by women with the exigencies of family. Nevertheless, despite the
fact that repayment then places a relatively higher burden on women - i.e., part of the loan
principal was never invested in a productive measure and therefore does not directly contribute to
earnings - they have consistently demonstrated lower default rates than men (Rahman, 1986;
Hossain, 1988).

The Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) is the world's largest non-governmental
development service delivery organization in terms of number of employees. The Dhaka based
organization was founded in 1972 but it was not until the early 1980s when BRAC implemented a
nation-wide oral rehydration therapy (ORT) education project that it really "took off." The ORT
project, seeking to lower Bangladesh's high infant mortality rate caused by diarrheal diseases,
targeted women who are the principal family care givers by teaching them how to prepare and
apply an oral rehydration formula. Remarkably, the project reached over 90% of its national
target group - mothers with young children and potential mothers (Skillicorn, 1993).

BRAC has since greatly expanded both in size and in the scope of its primarily project-based
activities. These now encompass the entire spectrum of the rural development agenda: health,
education, rural credit, agriculture, fisheries, rural industry, handicrafts and other income
generating activities. While women remain a primary target for BRAC, other disadvantaged
sectors of Bangladeshi society have also become foci of BRAC activities. BRAC's main strategy
to reach the poor concentrates on continuous motivation, functional education and economic
support (Quddus, 1985). BRAC emphasizes a high degree of beneficiary participation in both its
projects and its research efforts (Chambers, 1983).

BRAC's current mode of operation relies heavily on developing, within each "BRAC village"
single-sex groupings from a common socio-cultural stratum. Employing mechanisms not
dissimilar to those of the GB, BRAC uses these groups to channel credit and technical assistance
to the rural poor. BRAC's income earning activities differ from those of the GB in that a) they
emphasize group enterprise as opposed to individual activities; and b) they are planned around a
single technical activity and typically involve heavy inputs of technical assistance.

BRAC groups are larger then GB teams, averaging between 15 and 25 members. Each group
selects a chairman, a secretary, an assistant secretary, and a cashier. Following group formation ,
key members are chosen to receive 10 days of training on the basic methods of functional
education and then asked to impart the information to the rest of the group. As with the GB, the
groups meet on a weekly basis and members are required to deposit a minimum savings into the
group's joint account (Quddus, 1985). The success of these groups relies on heavy supervision,
education and the stimulation of income earning activities.

BRAC is now moving in the direction of developing for-profit subsidiaries also targeted at
providing employment or commercial infrastructure for poor workers and farmers. For example,
BRAC developed a potato cold storage industry which it directly operates as a for-profit
institution, supply services to surrounding small farmers. This has enabled participating farmers
to more than double their individual receipts from potato crops by allowing them to benefit from
high off-season prices.

BRAC has become the largest supplier and distributer of high quality handicrafts in Bangladesh.
The primary impetus for this comes from BRAC's chain of classy retail outlets where high quality
handicrafts are sold primarily to middle and upper-middle class Bangladeshis. BRAC developed
its own printing operations and is now one of the largest publishers in Dhaka. More recently
BRAC has invested heavily in procuring failing garment industries, renovating them and turning
them into profitable businesses. As a result, BRAC has now become one of the largest garment
exporters in Bangladesh. In the same vein BRAC is also acquiring sick pharmaceutical industries
and converting them to production of low-priced basic medicines. All of these activities heavily
involve women, particularly the garment and handicraft industries which traditionally rely upon
female labour. These for-profit activities provide income earning activities for the poor, while the
profits provide BRAC with capital to reinvest in their development efforts (Skillicorn, 1993).

Recently, BRAC was also provided a government charter to convert its existing rural credit
operations into the "BRAC Bank." While not yet as extensive, the BRAC Bank now provides a
genuine alternative to the Grameen Bank.

The GB and BRAC are emphasized in this discussion since they represent the most powerful and
innovative forces for WID in Bangladesh today. However it is important to note the existence of
numerous other nation-wide NGO'S in Bangladesh which also work extensively with women.
These include the local branch of Catholic Relief Services (CARITAS), PROSHIKA, CARE,
Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development (BARD), The Kumudini Welfare Trust,
Gonoshastra Kendra (GK) and the Bangladesh Rural Development Board (BRDB) among
others. Many of these NGO's promote women's cooperatives for income raising activities,
training programs on productive skills, credit programs, health and family planning education
programs, food for work programs, literacy programs, and kitchen gardens (Quddus, 1985;
Skillicorn, 1993).

The Government of Bangladesh has recognized the need to promote WID in its rural development
programs. This is reflected in the objectives and strategies laid out in the government's Second
and Third Five Year Plans (1980-84 & 1984-89).

Five Year Plan (FYP) objectives have concentrated on stimulating the participation of women in
socio-economic activities through education and training, forming women's associations
promoting activities that improve women's social and economic situation, and sponsoring
activities aimed at improving children's lives.

FYP strategies have included: a) focusing on the home as the basic unit of production for
developing cottage industries; b) providing credit through rural banking structures; c) establishing
linkages between women's groups and private business organizations; and d) setting up a
National Council of Women for policy formulation.

GOB programs targeted at WID issues laid out in the SFYP included the following specific
programs: a) Skills Development Training and Production Centers for Women, b) Industry for
Women Program, c) Children's Program, d) Women's Attitudinal Change Program, e) Women's
Stipend/Scholarship program, and f) Women's Research Program. The Ministry of Women's
Affairs undertook these programs through its affiliated organizations such as Shishu Academy
(Children's Academy) and Jatiya Mohila Sangstha (National Women's Organization). Recently,
the Women's Affairs Ministry was absorbed within the Ministry of Social Welfare. This was
accompanied by dissolution of the Jatiya Mohila Sangstha, closure and lowered funding for other
WID programs and a general decline in GOB emphasis on WID (Quddus, 1985).

Women comprise half the world's population. They account for 67% of all hours worked yet are
officially counted as only 33% of the labor force. Despite their disproportionate contribution,
women receive only 10% of the world's income and own less then 1% of the world's real
property. Females constitute over 60% of the world's illiterates (World Bank, 1980; UN, 1979;
Maguire, 1984; Momsen 1991). These global statistics, however, conceal the fact that
circumstances facing women vary greatly from country to country, and by race, class, culture, and
economic order within nations (Maguire, 1984). These statistics do, however, pose crucial
questions: Why are women in this position? Why have most development efforts failed to
improve this situation? The discussion which follows examines current themes in the Women in
Development (WID) literature and develops a framework for analyzing those questions.

In order to understand the emergence of a focus on women in development it is important to
examine it within the larger historical context of contemporary trends in international
development. The first United Nations Development Decade (1960) concluded with an acute
awareness of the need for a new approach to development. Early, pre-1970's, development
models concentrated almost exclusively on increasing capital accumulation and GNP in third
world nations. Conventional wisdom at that time held that the poor would inevitably benefit from
the "trickle down" effects of this economic development. These early models, with their heavy
emphasis on the cash economy, tended to ignore the value of women's economic contribution to
national welfare (Brydon and Chant, 1989; Maguire 1984) while also failing to recognize any
differential economic impact of development programs on men and women.

Brydon and Chant point out that, until the 1970's, programs oriented at improving rural
productivity and living conditions had two principal design faults: (1) They did not take into
consideration local knowledge of the environment or local business and agricultural methodology;
and (2) they focussed primarily on heads of households, on the naive assumption that all
households were headed by men and that women would necessarily benefit through the
participation of their husbands, fathers or brothers. This had the effect of virtually excluding
women from development programs thereby preventing them from realizing significant real
benefits from the programs.

In the 1970's it became apparent that economic growth did not readily "trickle down" to improve
the lives of the poor (Momsen, 1991; Maguire, 1984; Sen and Grown, 1987). This realization
prompted a shift during the Second Development Decade to human resources development and a"
basic needs" approach. This new approach concentrated on (1) increasing distribution of the
benefits of development programs to the world's poorest people, while also (2) increasing their
direct participation in development efforts (Maguire, 1984; Sen and Grown, 1987).
Improvements in health, nutrition, water, sanitation, housing and education became the top
priority (Sen and Grown, 1987). With this shift in emphasis development planners began to
recognize that the participation of women was essential to the development process.

These early attempts to "integrate" women into development have been criticized as being gender-blind (Pepe Roberts, 1979 [Brydon] ) and based on a mistaken belief that women could be
brought into existing development models without restructuring (Momsen, 1991). This approach
has also been criticized for its assumption that women were not yet making full productive
contributions to their societies (Blumberg, 1976; Maguire, 1984).

With the gradual realization that little was known about the true economic and social role of third
world women - the extent of their normal day-to-day activities; their formal responsibilities to
family, employers and society (Buvinic, 1982; Maguire, 1984; Brydon and Chant, 1989) -
development planners came to better appreciate the difficulty, and the importance, of designing
projects incorporating women.

As priorities shifted during the second development decade the focus on women's issues at a
global level became more pronounced. 1975 was designated "United Nations International
Women's Year (IWY), culminating in the IWY World Conference held in Mexico City. The
conference themes - equality, development and peace - were expressions of this new, global
sensitivity to the role of women in development.

Patricia Maguire has summarized the outcomes of the IWY and other supporting WID events
with the following observations:

Shift from equity to poverty approach and differentiation of the needs of Third World women
from those of women in general;

Attempted declaration of feminism as irrelevant to WID;

Dialogue, primarily outside of development industry, leading to a) recognition of diversity of
circumstances confronting women and b) acknowledgment of linkages between oppression of
women and structural, racial and class issues; and

Strengthening and diversification of the informal international WID network.

(Maguire, 1984)

Other important events modifying the shifting focus on women's issues included:

The UN Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (1967);

The inauguration of the UN Program of Concerted Action for the Advancement of Women
(1970); and

The Percy Amendment to the US Foreign Assistance Act (1973) which recognized women's roles
in production and development in Third World countries and placed an emphasis on the
importance of funding programs which would "integrate women into national economies (Fraser,
1987; Brydon and Chant, 1989).

The United Nations Decade for Women (1975-1985) marked the international recognition of
women's critical role in third world development (Brydon and Chant, 1989) and the need to
include women in planning for development (Momsen, 1991). It gave impetus to NGO, PVO,
UN special agency and national government efforts to design projects and programs oriented
towards improving the socio-economic position of women. New ideologies and strategies for
WID were devised and there was a significant increase and improvement in the collection and
analysis of data concerning women (Brydon and Chant, 1989).

Despite the new awareness and focus on WID brought about through the UN Decade for
Women, there has been little apparent effect on the quality of life of poor women throughout the
world. As the United Nations Decade for Women concluded with the 1985 Nairobi conference,
it became apparent that for women, poverty, disease, illiteracy and unemployment had continued
to increase throughout the third world (Momsen, 1992). Evaluation by development agencies of
their WID efforts indicated that they too had not realized their stated goals of improving women's
status. In fact it was acknowledged that, in some cases, women's lives had actually worsened as a
result of those interventions. (World Bank, 1980, ISIS, 1983; Maguire 1984).

The WID literature is characterized by several fundamental recurrent themes:

Recognition that the concept of "household" is critical to the analysis of gender roles in
production - specifically the sexual division of labor. While all societies establish a division of
labor by sex, the apparent lack of any "natural" basis for that division has resulted in significant
cross-cultural differences (Momsen, 1991; Brydon and Chant, 1989). These differences are most
pronounced at the level of the household which is the point at which reproductive and productive
relations intersect. The household is both the origin and primary destination of the deployment of
labor and other resources by household members (Brydon and Chant, 1989).

Comprehension of gender roles, the sexual division of labor, and the subordination of women
requires recognition and understanding of the multiple roles women play in reproductive,
productive and subsistence agricultural work. An understanding of manner in which women
blend these disparate responsibilities, both within and outside the home, is vital to planning
women's role in development (Brydon and Chant, 1989).

It is necessary to distinguish between women's "practical" and "strategic" needs. Most
development projects fail to address strategic needs as this usually requires challenging the local
political, cultural and social status quo. True empowerment of women and the achievement of
fundamental change will require that development efforts address women's strategic needs in
addition to their practical needs (Momsen, 1991; Brydon and Chant, 1989).

There should exist a clear conceptual understanding of the role women play in economic life.
Women are major contributors to the real productivity of their communities, but the nature of that
contribution is often poorly understood and their labor contribution usually under-reported.
Women's economic contribution worldwide is, with rare exception, inaccurately reflected in
official national statistics. This directly translates into inaccuracies and distortions in the planning
and implementation of development projects (Beneria, 1983; Maguire, 1984; Brydon and Chant,
1989; Dixon, 1985; Boserup, 1986).

Economic development has had a differential impact on men and women. In many cases
development projects are actually detrimental to the interests of women, aggravating the
inequalities between the sexes and widening the gap between men and women's earning power
(Momsen, 1991; Brydon and Chant, 1989; Maguire, 1984; Boserup 1986; Sen and Grown,
1987).

Enhancing the status of women through improvements in women's education, training, and
access to higher wage jobs is not only in the interest of women, but also in the interest in society
as a whole - because the economic contribution of women is essential to the process of
development (Boserup, 1986; Maguire, 1984).

A household is usually defined as a residential unit where members share domestic functions and
activities. Households are focused primarily around managing the resources of the household
head and (his/her) spouse (when there is one) and the maintenance of children. The distribution
of inputs, benefits and activities may vary greatly among household members according to sex,
age and ability (Brydon and Chant, 1989).

The concept of "household" is critical in the analysis of gender roles and relations. As stated
earlier, it is the point of origin and destination for labor and resources where reproductive and
productive relations meet. The household is the primary locus of the sexual division of labor and
it therefore has the greatest effect in determining both the status and role of women in any society.
Likewise, this suggests that the household should the first target for efforts aimed at
(re)structuring gender roles (Brydon and Chant, 1989).

Brydon and Chant argue for the use of "household" as an analytical construct in any examination
of gender roles and relations - including the sexual division of labor and the status of women.
There are, however, two principal limitations with the use of household as analytical construct.

First, the concept of "work" in the context of a rural household defies clear definition. (Brydon
and Chant, 1989) Several authors draw a distinction between "productive" and "reproductive"
when analyzing women's labor contributions in and outside the household. Reproductive labor is
considered to have "use-value" and contributes to family subsistence while productive labor
generates "exchange-value" - usually in the form of cash income. This creates some ambiguity as
it is often difficult, at the margin, to draw a distinct boundary between the two (Momsen, 1991;
Brydon and Chant 1989). For example, Abdullah and Zeidenstein describe the case of some
Bangladeshi women who do not work cultivating rice in the fields for later sale in the market, but
they bear primary responsibility for preparing, storing and germinating seeds (Abdullah and
Zeidenstein, 1982). Although this work may not be directly remunerated it does make an essential
contribution to a crop which has exchange-value for the household.

The second difficulty with respect to use of household as an analytical construct concerns the
wide regional variation inherent in such a definition. It is impossible to ascribe a precise definition
to household that has valid application across all cultures. These differences are not only
attributable to cultural variation. They draw significant variability from factors such as
colonialism, new economic systems, and migration (Brydon and Chant, 1989).

Despite these problems, household - as an analytical construct - remains arguably the most
important tool in the analysis of gender roles and relations. Unless the "reproductive" and
"productive" labor women contribute inside and outside the home is considered, it is impossible to
gain a clear and valid picture of women's role in economic development. Further, without this
information women cannot effectively be brought into the mainstream of economic development.
And, without the active participation of women it is unlikely that any development effort can, in
the long run, succeed.

The concept of "reproduction" is largely ignored in national labor accounting despite the fact that
it serves a vital economic function - formation, training and maintenance of human capital.
Women's responsibility for reproductive work, which is carried out primarily in the household, is a
major factor in the sexual division of labor; women's position in the labor market; and women's
subordination to men. It is, therefore, crucial to look at women's reproductive work contributions
when assessing the role of women in economic development and when planning their participation
in the development process (Momsen, 1991).

The term "reproduction" has a wide range of connotations and definitions. Biological
reproduction refers to childbirth and lactation while physical reproduction includes daily activities
such as cooking, cleaning, and health care which contribute to maintenance of the labor force.
Finally, social reproduction includes activities that contribute to social welfare - personal
obligations to the community, maintenance of kinship relationships, collective education of
children and development and maintenance of neighborhood networks (Momsen, 1991; Brydon
and Chant, 1989). Social reproduction also nurtures social mores, upholds the prevailing
ideology and generally works to preserve and maintain the social and economic status quo.
(Barret, 1986). In summary, reproduction is described as the transformation of goods and services
for household use and welfare. (Brydon and Chant, 1989).

Much of the contemporary thinking on women's status draws its inspiration from the early
Marxist tenet that reproductive responsibilities are the primary cause of women's traditional
subordination to men. Fredrick Engels, a close associate of Karl Marx, wrote The Origin of the
Family, Private Property and the State, a work in which he asserted his belief that women's
subordination, particularly in capitalist societies, can be attributed to their isolation from
production - which he defined as remunerated labor (Momsen, 1992; Brydon and Chant, 1991;
Maguire). Engels postulated that with the emergence of private property men accumulated
wealth and, in an effort to secure identifiable heirs, took control of women's sexuality - relegating
them to reproductive work to insure the survival of those heirs. With the advent of this
monogamous family, women were excluded from remunerative public production and confined to
what has always been considered the inferior position of the reproductive sphere. The resulting
wealth differential within the family led to inequality between spouses - as it did between classes
(Maguire, 1984).

Engels believed that increasing women's involvement in the productive sphere (wage labor) would
result in an end to their oppression. Contemporary history shows this premise to be incorrect.
Increased participation in the paid labor force has not resulted in significant relaxation of women's
subordination (Momsen, 1991; Brydon and Chant, 1989; Maguire, 1984) Instead, women's
lower status has spread from the household to the productive sphere, where women are invariably
given the poorest paid, least desirable jobs. Women have been required to maintain their
reproductive responsibilities in addition to their growing productive or wage labor obligations,
creating a "double burden."

While Engels believed that capitalist repression relegated women to the reproductive sphere,
others attribute this to biological factors. They argue that women's subordinate status is
reinforced by women's confinement to the domestic sphere due to gestation, lactation and child-care responsibilities (Lei-Strauss, 1969, 1972; Ortner, 1974). This argument is based on the
notion that women's reproductive capacity condemns them to subordination (Brydon and Chant,
1989). Critics point out that these theories, reflecting as they do a culturally biased view of
women's bodies, childbearing and child rearing as "constraining," are ethnocentric in the extreme
(Roger, 1978; Brydon and Chant, 1989 pp.62).

Scholars offer differing rationale for the origin of women's subordination, but most accept that
"reproductive" work is always accorded less value then "productive" work, leading inevitably to
lower status and subordination for women who work primarily in that sphere.

A useful framework of analysis within which to discuss the lower status of reproductive activities
is provided by the "exchange-value" versus "use-value" dichotomy. Productive labor normally
generates cash income which is considered to have exchange-value while reproductive labor
provides family subsistence needs and is considered to have use-value. Men normally dominate
the former and women the latter. Typically use-value labor is considered to hold greater real
value than exchange-value labor. While this analytical construct is useful it suffers from the same
shortcomings as the "reproductive" and "productive" division of labor discussed earlier. At the
margin, the distinction between "use-value" and "exchange-value" is often ambiguous. For
example, subsistence farming is normally production for direct consumption. Surplus production
may, however, be sold for cash which has exchange-value. (Brydon and Chant, 1989)

Despite the fact that reproductive labor is crucial to the health, welfare and survival of the world's
populations, it continues to be undervalued and largely ignored at the project level. Development
efforts in recent years have attempted to increase the participation of women. However, a lack of
clear conceptual understanding of the role women already play in economic life and a failure to
recognize the value of women's reproductive responsibilities has limited their successful
participation in the development process. In order for women to actively participate in, and
benefit from, development efforts - particularly those aimed at increasing women's income earning
opportunities - programs and projects must recognize women's "double burden" and support them
in reducing their reproductive labor loads. (Beneria, 1983; Maguire, 1984; Brydon and Chant,
1989; Dixon, 1985; Boserup, 1986).

Third world women are limited in their choice of employment opportunities facing severe
constraints in the productive sphere, in particular. As already noted, productive labor is often
difficult to distinguish from reproductive labor. Subsistence agriculture, in which women provide
a significant portion of the labor requirements, poses a particular challenge to this definition.
While subsistence production is intended for direct consumption by the family, any surplus can be
sold for cash. In a rural context subsistence production should more appropriately be considered
income which has exchange value (Brydon and Chant, 1989). [This issue is dealt with in more
depth in the following pages.]

A brief overview of factors which have been used to explain women's subordinate position and
their difficulties in participating in the productive labor force are presented below:

Reproductive responsibilities Throughout the world women's participation in the wage labor
force has been significantly lower then that of men, because women bear the primary
responsibility for reproductive work - mainly involving child-care and domestic work.

Double burden Women often bear a double burden where they engage in both reproductive and
productive work. (Brydon and Chant, 1989; Momsen, 1991). The double burden requires that
they work significantly longer hours than do the men in their communities. Women, as a
consequence, enjoy significantly less leisure time than men (Momsen, 1991).

Sexual stereotypes and discrimination Women are limited to a narrow range of low paying,
less secure and low status jobs because of gender stereotyping and employment discrimination
based on gender.

Skills and education Women have less access to training and education, in part due to the
sexual division of labor. When determining choice of education for children, it is often felt that
females will not need formal training or education as they will be wives and mothers performing
primarily reproductive work. The resulting lack of education and formal skills inhibits women's
access to better jobs in the formal job sector. It is important, however, to note that equality in
access to education does not ensure equality in pay. In most cases women with equal education
have difficulty competing against men for available jobs. And, having won a job they invariably
receive lower wages than men performing comparable work (Brydon an Chant 1989, Momsen,
1991).

Higher cost of female labor In the modern industrial sector legislation typically requires
employers to provide female employees with liberal maternity benefits. This has the effect of
raising the cost of female labor, and is a factor now inhibiting hiring of women (Momsen, 1991).

Spatial separation between home and work place Women are constrained to accept outside
employment where there is a large spatial separation between their work place and their home -
where they usually still bear primary responsibility for reproductive activities. This issue is
particularly relevant to women who live in cities. (Momsen, 1991)

Secondary earners The assumption that women are secondary earners, supplementing their
family's income, limits their employment opportunities. This assumption ignores the ever-growing
trend of female headed households - which now account for over 30% of all households
worldwide (Maguire, 1984).

Patriarchy Men still control the power structures in the third world, thus ensuring the continued
dominance of the male perspective - while also continuing to limit employment opportunities for
women.

Traditional social and cultural values Traditional social and cultural values often dictate the
types of employment women may hold while also imposing severe spatial restrictions on women.
These two factors often make it impossible for women to pursue productive work outside the
home. Traditional values, including local perceptions of honor (and/or dishonor) often provide
the primary basis for resistance by husbands and fathers to women working outside of the home.

In addition to the factors described above, several, more comprehensive theories have been
advanced to explain the persistence of women's subordinate position in the labor force. These can
generally be grouped under the following headings (Momsen, 1989):

Neo-classical economic theories These theories attribute male-female earning differentials to
women's lower level of education, family responsibilities, lower productivity, less experience, less
physical strength and fewer working hours. Criticisms of these theories include the assumption
that education can eliminate the wage differential. Neo-classical theories also assumes that men
and women have equal access to jobs and compete on equal ground for jobs. Finally, neo-classical theories assume that gestation, lactation and child-rearing biologically restrict all women.

Labor market segmentation These theories assume that the neo-classical principles apply but
within narrow labor market segments such as primary jobs and secondary sector jobs. Women
tend to occupy the lower paid, lower security secondary jobs due to their higher absenteeism and
turnover. This is attributed to female characteristics rather then the poor nature of the jobs.
These theories further assume that gender roles are static, explaining in part, women's continued
disadvantaged position in the labor market.

Feminist theories These theories focus on cultural and social factors which place women at a
disadvantage in the labor market. Women's reproductive and productive roles are viewed as key
variables as opposed to being a fixed conditions.

Female marginalization These theories hold that women's role in production becomes
increasingly less important with capitalist industrialization in developing countries. They rely
primarily on four key arguments to explain subordination of women in the work place:

Women are excluded from employment on the basis of their gender or characteristics assigned to
their gender.

Women are confined to the margins of the labor market - receiving the lowest paid, most insecure
jobs. They are virtually excluded from certain types of jobs - such as heavy manufacturing, for
example.

Some jobs become feminized due to a high concentration of females in those jobs (receptionists,
for example). A direct consequence of feminization is that affected jobs take on a lower status.
Garment industry jobs are typical of this category.

The principle of economic inequality, which refers to occupational differentiation such as low
wages, poor working conditions, lack of job security, and a lack of benefits, is implicitly accepted
by most employers for jobs considered to be "women's work." (Brydon and Chant 1989;
Momsen, 1991)

As with their efforts in the reproductive sphere, the work women do for wages (productive work)
is largely undervalued. The primary rationale for underpaying women for their productive work is
that their income is considered to be "supplementary" to that of their husband or father - the
primary household bread winner. Despite the fact that productive labor normally is accorded
greater value in most societies, women's participation in productive labor has not necessarily
meant improved status or freedom from subordination for women. Development efforts oriented
at improving women's status and standard of living through participation in remunerated
"productive" labor must address the limitations women face in "productive" work in order to
achieve success.

Women play a vital role in agricultural production throughout the world, making a significant
contribution to the basic productivity of their communities. This contribution is largely under-reported, however, and is seldom considered in the planning and implementation of development
projects (Maguire, 1984; Boserup, 1986; Brydon and Chant 1989; Momsen, 1991). This failure
of development projects to recognize women's crucial role in agricultural production has had a
detrimental effect on the status of women, has had significant opportunity costs with respect to
production increases, and has often resulted in the failure of projects (Brydon and Chant, 1989).
Recognition of the key role women play in agricultural production is imperative for successful
implementation of both non-agricultural and agricultural development projects.

In addition to their household reproductive activities, women in rural communities bear
considerable responsibility for household agricultural production and processing. These activities,
which include all aspects of crop production and processing, animal husbandry, seed preparation
and storage and local cash crop marketing, arguably constitute a greater responsibility for
agricultural production than that exercised by their male counterparts. For the purposes of this
discussion subsistence agriculture will be considered as a third category of work distinct from
reproductive and productive work. Subsistence agriculture is, in reality, an intermediate category
of activity because while subsistence farming is normally for household consumption, the activity
itself does not differ in practical terms from income-earning agricultural activity and in times of
surplus produce may be sold for real exchange-value (Brydon and Chant, 1989).

Earlier, the "double burden" of women was discussed in reference to their reproductive and
productive labor responsibilities. Throughout many parts of the world, women bear the primary
responsibility for subsistence agricultural production in addition to their household reproductive
labor and other outside productive activities. In reality, we can refer to a "triple burden" when we
add subsistence agricultural work to the reproductive and productive labor women carry out.

The degree to which women participate in agriculture varies throughout the world. There are a
variety of theories and rationale to explain this variability. Ester Boserup in Women's role in
Economic Development has proposed that the nature of the agricultural production paradigm of
a region affects the level of women's participation which in turn determines women's status.
Specifically, Boserup argues that in areas where shifting cultivation is predominant women
perform most of the agricultural work and have a higher relative status. In areas where the
plough is predominant, men perform relative more agricultural work and women have lower
status. In irrigated areas, where farming is intensive and both men and women are highly involved
in agricultural production, women's status, again, tends to be relatively higher.

Boserup postulates that modern agricultural methods introduced through development projects
have had a detrimental effect on women by lowering their participation in agriculture and thereby
lowering their status (Boserup, 1986). While Boserup's central thesis has been widely criticized,
her work is considered a landmark in that it exposed women's vital contribution in agricultural
production - something previously ignored by mainstream economists and development planners
(Maguire, 1984; Brydon and Chant, 1989).

Another factor affecting women's participation in agricultural production is the division of labor
based on gender. Most farming systems have developed a gender-specific assignment of farming
tasks. For example, men may tend to perform those agricultural tasks that require physical
strength, are distant from the homestead and/or require operation of machinery. Women, on the
other hand are more likely to perform time consuming tasks that require close attention, dexterity
and repetition - such as weeding, for instance. Introduction of new technology or tools will
typically alter the existing division of labor, with men generally assuming those tasks perceived as
"complex" or involving operation of machinery.

Farm size also appears to be an important factor in determining the variability in women's
participation in agriculture throughout the third world. In areas where small farms are
predominant, women have a higher degree of participation than in areas where large land holdings
are predominant (Momsen, 1989). This may be because smaller farms are geared more at
subsistence production where larger farms are more likely to produce cash crops.

Cultural and class factors also affect women's participation in agriculture. In some cultures
women's participation in fieldwork is looked down upon and associated with loss of status. In
those cultures only poor, divorced, abandoned or otherwise outcast women - all of whom are
typically considered to hold low status -work directly in the fields (Brydon and Chant, 1989).

Another factor affecting women's participation in agriculture is male migration to the city.
Inevitably, women who remain behind are required to pick up the slack - often finding themselves
with insufficient time to perform the increased work load. In some cases this has led to under-utilization of land and/or underemployment of labor - and a drop in production resulting in
increased poverty and malnutrition (Momsen, 1989).

Additionally, due largely to simple naivete, development projects have had a passive impact on
women's participation in agriculture by exclusively targeting men. This is done on the assumption
that, as in many western societies, men are the main agricultural decision makers (Momsen,
1989). In so doing projects exclude women from agrarian reform and training efforts - often
widening the gap between men and women's earning power and lowering the relative status of
women within the community.

Development planners have consistently failed to give adequate consideration to women's needs
and have shown a marked predilection to ignore ideas put forward by women - despite the fact
that women are central to the development process. This gender-blind attitude at the policy and
planning levels has led to the exclusion of women from many projects or in some cases introduced
negative effects on women. The following discussion examines the reasons underlying this failing
at the policy level.

The most important reason for policy level bias against women is probably simple ignorance - an
inability by development planners and bureaucrats to accurately conceptualize the role women
play in their rural communities. There is, in particular, a pronounced tendency to underestimate
the importance of reproductive activities carried out by women, it's value to family survival and its
overall importance to the national economy. Many development planners have compounded this
error of ignorance by restricting women's participation in projects to activities involving the
household, childbearing and child rearing (Maguire, 1984) - thus serving to reinforce all the
standard stereotyped biases against women.

Development analysts have suggested that the reason for the anti-women bias in development
planning is that planners, often educated in US and British universities, typically superimpose
projects with western values, ideologies and methodologies (Maguire, 198?; Brydon and Chant,
1989). This is not unexpected, because much of the conventional wisdom with respect to WID
issues draws its inspiration from studies of women and gender in the first world. Implicit
assumptions concerning rural woman also tend to reflect western values. For example, on the
assumption - as in the developed western nations - that men are the primary agricultural producers
and decision-makers, women have often been excluded from agricultural development projects.
This, despite the fact that they may be the principal producers of the crop(s) being promoted.
Another case of development planners superimposing western values, is when women have been
excluded from projects on the assumption that all households are male headed. In fact, female-headed household are becoming increasingly common throughout the world (Maguire, 1984).

In order to overcome this problem, third world women must play a greater role in defining their
own needs and planning and implementing development interventions. This requires the
participation of third world women as researchers, policy planners, project staff and active
participants in project implementation (Brydon and Chant, 1989).

Another criticism of development planning is that it rarely addresses or even acknowledges the
constraints of prejudice, traditions, gender inequities, stereotypes and sexism. These factors are
believed by many analysts to represent the vary core of societies oppression of women, yet they
are rarely openly considered in the planning or implementation of rural development projects
(Maguire, 1984).

Many development planners have also failed to recognize factors such as race and class, which in
addition to gender, are also at the root of oppression - of both men and women (Maguire, 1984).

Another factor development planners often to fail to take into account in their planning for
national development is the effect on women of the wide-ranging economic restructuring efforts
now being mandated by institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
These efforts typically include increasing production for export, raising local prices of basic
goods, and services and reducing "inefficient" social welfare programs. The poorest sectors of
the population, which is disproportionately female, tend to bear the heaviest, immediate burden of
these restructuring adjustments (Momsen, 1991).

In conclusion, Patricia Maguire offers the following general constraints to efficient and effective
WID programming and implementation in development projects Maguire, 1983):

Inadequate quantitative information about women A limited data base and lack of accurate
statistics on women and WID issues limits the efficient implementation and evaluation of
development projects.

Inadequate qualitative information and understanding of women's daily lives Stereotypes
and misconceptions about women's lives, activities and economic contribution to their families and
communities are common at the highest policy and planning levels. For example, as a result of the
common perception of women as exclusively wives and mothers, they have been limited to
participation in health, nutrition, family planning and education projects. In turn they are often
excluded from projects which concentrate on developing areas such as agricultural, marketing,
and management skills.

Lack of female staff and inadequate mechanisms for ensuring women's input into project
development Staffing by women at the high decision-making positions is low. Also,
participation by local women in projects is often limited due to cultural constraints, stereotypes
and misinformation on the part of the project planners, the women themselves and the community.

Inadequate internal staffing by persons who understand and are commitment to WID
programming Project staff sometimes have strong attitudinal barriers and have resisted including
and targeting women in development projects.

Inadequate models and insufficient experience with WID programming to meet women's
economic needs Despite the fact that women have most frequently identified their major need to
be income, cash and wage employment (Maguire, 1983, pp. 44), the development industry has
been slow to successfully address those needs. Many projects focused at income generating
activities provide so few returns or pay such low wages that accepting the work the jobs provide
is often not worth the additional burden they add to women's lives.

Inadequate commitment of financial resources to WID programming Despite increasing
recognition of the need for WID projects and programs, the development industry has invested
only a small percentage of its available resources for WID programming.

The "Development Project" is a recent innovation, succeeding the "program" mechanism of the
past. Reinforced by the major multilateral and bilateral development agencies and their economic
aid funds, all developing countries now subscribe to some variation of project based development.
The intention of the discrete development project format is to provide a consistent structure for
planning, implementing and evaluating desired action. Terms such as "goals," "objectives,"
"logical framework," "objectively verifiable indicators," evaluation," "rate-of-return," and "net
present value" have all become part of the common lexicon of the development community.

The United Nations Decade for the Advancement of Women served to motivate most large
multilateral and bilateral development organizations, national governments and private NGO's to
develop projects aimed at improving the economic and social position of women. The assumption
was that by increasing women's participation in the development projects, women would improve
their lives through enhanced access to resources, income, employment, and education. It has
become clear, however, that participation in development projects has a differential impact on
women, with the negative effects on women's social and economic condition often outweighing
the positive wage gains - thus actually widening the inequality between men and women. The
discussion which follows will examine: a) the relative advantages and disadvantages for women of
various types of development projects, b) the general problem of women's participation in
development projects, and c) problems concerning project evaluation.

Women are often excluded from participation in projects due to entry conditions that limit access
by women. For example, conditions which require a regular income or include only household
heads often restrict or disqualify women from participating in a given project.

As we have already mentioned, development projects typically fail to recognize the "triple" burden
brought on women through their participation in a project. We have also noted that participation
in projects often lowers the status of those women associating with it. In some islamic countries,
for example, women who work outside of the home are often ascribed low-status. (Abdullah and
Zeidenstein, 1982, Brydon, 1985 pp.112).

When analyzing WID projects it is necessary to establish whether projects address women's
"practical" or "strategic" needs. Practical needs refer to immediate basic material needs such as
food and shelter. Projects addressing practical needs of women often reinforce women's
traditional roles and the existing sexual division of labor. Strategic needs are concerned with
issues such as improving women's status, bringing about an equal sharing of resources between
women and men, achieving gender equality at home and in the work place, and challenging the
existing sexual division of labor.

Most development projects avoid addressing strategic needs because: a) doing so often involves
the sensitive issue of challenging the political, cultural and social status quo; b) it requires a long-term commitment; and c) it competes with the more visceral "practical needs" of poor women
who are concerned first with basic survival. Nevertheless, in order to truly empower women and
bring about fundamental change, development efforts must address women's strategic needs in
addition to their practical needs (Momsen, 1991; Brydon and Chant, 1989).

"Bottom-up" projects have been commended for their marked success, relative to "top-down"
projects, in stimulating women's direct participation in the development process. Bottom-up
approaches are often development efforts that have been initiated from within communities, by
women themselves. Top-down development projects, on the other hand, are introduced by
external authorities. Generally "bottom-up" approaches are thought to have a higher degree of
beneficiary input and participation.

Top-down approaches have been criticized for failing to take into account women's views,
attitudes, capabilities and constraints (Ahmad and Loufti, 1985 pp. 96). Bottom-up approaches,
on the other hand, are considered by many to have a higher likelihood for achieving success as
they are often based on women's own initiatives and include a high degree of local participation in
their design as well as implementation ( Ahmad and Loufti, 1985; Brydon and Chant, 1989).

Participation by women in the planning and implementation of projects is an important element in
designing projects that truly benefit and address the needs of women. However, it is not a
sufficient condition to ensure success. Bottom-down projects are usually disadvantaged by poor
linkages to, and communications with, external groups. For example, an exclusively internal local
initiative will typically encounter greater difficulty a) obtaining funding, and b) gaining access to
technical and managerial expertise than an will an external initiative. Additionally, a bottom-up
initiative is more likely to depend on volunteer time to accomplish goals. This is a problem for
women who normally have little free time to volunteer.

It is an interesting question whether an externally introduced project can effectively practice
bottom-up participatory techniques which directly involve beneficiaries in project planning and
implementation. Such efforts may provide the advantages of external links to funding sources and
technical expertise while simultaneously addressing the real needs of project beneficiaries.

Another approach to including women in development projects is to create women-only projects.
The advantage of this approach is that it can avoid conflict, resistance from men and cultural
constraints on men and women working together. This type of project can provide women with a
non-competitive, non-controversial environment where they can acquire skills and/or earn an
income. It is also more likely that the needs and interests of women may better converge than in
mixed gender projects. In general, women-only projects have a stronger commitment to women
and are better able to reach women - thus promoting a high degree of participation by women, as
both staff and beneficiaries.

Women-only projects also have serious disadvantages. First, many efforts directed at only women
tend to be small, peripheral projects focussed primarily on practical family-needs. This has the
effect, usually unintended, of reinforcing women's roles as wives and mothers. Such projects,
along with their participants and beneficiaries, tend to become easily marginalized. Classic
examples of women-centered projects include nutrition, hygiene, child-health, education and
family planning projects. These projects rarely address strategic needs by challenging women's
traditional roles or the inequality between men and women. Rather, they tend to play it safe by
restricting their focus to supporting women's roles as nurturers and family care-takers.

Some women-only projects have shifted their focus to increasing women's income and
employment opportunities by improving access to credit, training and fundraising activities.
These projects make the assumption that poverty is the root cause of discrimination against
women. They fit under the general category of "anti-poverty approach" and are targeted at
directly improving women's material circumstances.

Many anti-poverty women's projects reinforce traditional skills women often already possess -
such as handicrafts, sewing or cooking. (Maguire, 1984; Brydon and Chant, 1989). In-the-home
craft and clothing projects usually realize very low returns to women for their efforts - which are
usually highly labor intensive and time consuming. These projects often pay so little
compensation for the work they require that their net benefits to women are dubious at best. In
the final analysis, anti-poverty projects rarely address strategic needs and tend to reinforce
women's traditional roles.

Another category of women-only projects is an "equity" approach in which effort is made to share
resources and benefits among men and women on an equal basis. These projects seek to eliminate
sexual inequality in the work place and at home. Equity projects may include consciousness-raising, women-only credit programs, and sex-education. These efforts emphasize the questioning
of women's traditional reproductive roles and encourage further participation in reproductive
activities.

Equity projects face limitations, however, as they enter the sensitive area of challenging the
political, social, cultural, and economic status quo. Equity projects also demand a long term
commitment and are, as a consequence, relatively more expensive than other approaches. The
limited resource flow to such projects is also exacerbated by the fact that policy planners are put
off by both the need for long-term commitment and the sometimes controversial nature of the
projects themselves.

Other women-only projects, besides equity-approach projects, also face resources constraints
(Sen and Grown, 1987; Brydon and Chant, 1989). This may in part be attributable to: a) more
limited resource networks, b) limited organizational and technical expertise and c) a general
"devaluation" of women-only projects within the international development community (Buvinic,
1984; Rogers, 1980; Brydon and Chant, 1989).

As with other WID projects, women-only projects also encounter the problem of loss of status -
both by the project and its participants. Simply being labeled a "women's project" generates an
attitude among community members that the project is of little importance. Often this may result
from a lack of support or cooperation by men who see no direct benefit for themselves, and
question the value of any project targeting only women. Additionally, women may be hesitant to
participate in such projects for fear of losing status through association with the project. This is
most likely to occur in societies where women's participation in activities outside the home is
viewed with disfavor by the community at large (Brydon and Chant, 1989).

Mixed gender projects have comparative advantages and disadvantages for women participants.
First, mixed-gender projects have relatively more access to resources than women-only projects.
Given the inclusion of males, the project is more likely to receive the support of male community
members. Also, inclusion of males is likely to remove the stigma - and the consequent low status
- ascribed to exclusively female projects.

Mixed-gender projects, however, have certain disadvantages for their women participants. The
obvious disadvantage is the likelihood of male domination of the project. Male domination
typically limits women's participation in the project with a concomitant reduction in benefits to
women. Mixed-gender projects are also less likely to address women's specific needs and
interests when compared to women-only projects (Brydon and Chant, 1989).

An emphasis on "community participation", or "grass-roots development" or "development from
below" as mention earlier under the discussion on bottom-up development, has become
pronounced in recent years. These approaches to development concentrate on increasing the
participation of project beneficiaries in the planning, design and implementation of projects.
Advocates of increased beneficiary participation contend that these projects are more likely to
succeed because they better address the real needs and constraints of participants.

Women's participation in, and benefit from, development projects and programs have been limited
by a variety of factors. The following is a brief overview of factors that limit women's active
participation in development projects

Exclusion from design stages of projects Many participatory development efforts include
beneficiaries in the implementation and maintenance of projects, however they fail to include them
in the design stages (Brydon and Chant, 1989). Project design must also address constraints to
beneficiary participation, an issue particularly important to women. By leaving beneficiaries out
of the design stages, project planners limit their target group's ability to participate despite the fact
that they may be promoting a high degree of participation in the implementation of the project.

Male resistance In some cases women are prevented from participating in projects by their male
family members as it may mean coming into close contact with men outside of the family (Chant
1987; Abdullah and Zeidenstein; 1982 PP. 229 Brydon). Males may also resist women's
participation in projects because: a) it may necessitate a reduction in reproductive activities within
the family; b) they fear "empowered" women will threaten the male-dominated power structure;
and c) they fear project involvement by female family members will result in a lowering of their
own status within the community (Brydon and Chant, 1989).

Traditions, attitudes and prejudices Patriarchal attitudes, traditions and prejudices embedded
in culture and religion can restrict women from participating in projects.

Limited education Women's limited access to education and training may leave them without
the minimal skills necessary to participate in certain projects. This is a particularly pernicious
"Catch-22" problem, because restricted access to paid jobs further denies women the opportunity
to acquire the skills, on-the-job training (i.e., informal education) and work experience necessary
to compete for those jobs (Maguire, 1984).

Limited time Given the burden of their reproductive responsibilities, women may have little time
left over to participate in projects.

Poor access to resources Constrained access by women to land, credit, and modern agricultural
equipment limits their participation in most rural development projects (Maguire, 1987).

Health burden Women's relative poverty is reflected in their nutritional state. Women typically
have less access to food and health care than do men. Female babies are deprived of food and
medical care in favor of male babies during times of shortage or deprivation. Women, as a
consequence suffer greater malnutrition and anemia than do their male counterparts. This is
further exacerbated by the additional health burdens of frequent pregnancies and lactation.
Together, these health burdens may represent a significant constraint to active participation by
women in certain projects (Maguire, 1984).

Lack of accurate research and information on women Inadequate information and statistics
on women's lives and activities constrain development planners - who are themselves isolated
from project beneficiaries - from designing projects that truly address women's needs. This
translates into the need for more female-centered research which can serve as the basis for the
accurate design of participatory development projects.

Male staff In some cases male staff members may be insensitive to women's needs or resent their
participation. In other cases it may be difficult for women to work with male staff as they may be
prohibited by their family members from doing so. Sometimes participation is withheld because
women lack the self-confidence to deal with men (i.e., male strangers) in a formal project context
(Brydon and Chant, 1984).

Project evaluation can be a powerful tool for improving the effectiveness of development projects
and programs. The information and feedback obtained through an effective evaluation can be
used by project planners, particularly in projects involving women, to measure precisely whether
beneficiary needs are being met. This information can be used to: a) make mid-project corrections
designed to improve project performance, and b) improve the design of successive projects.
There are, nevertheless, a wide variety of problems commonly encountered in conducting WID
project evaluations. The discussion which follows identifies some of the more serious errors
committed in WID project evaluations.

The first problem encountered in evaluating WID activities is simply defining a WID project.
There are varying degrees of women's participation in development projects and there is no
general consensus on what constitutes a WID project. Some projects directly target women
while others offer a benefit to the community which will also benefit women as members of that
community. For example, can the construction of a road be considered a WID project since
"women walk on roads too ?" (Maguire, 1984).

Another difficulty with evaluating WID projects and programs is the lack of baseline data for
comparison and measurement of project success. Agencies normally lack accurate data on
women's social, political and economic status which predates the project being evaluated. This
makes it almost impossible to accurately and objectively measure project impact on women.

Also, related to the problem of baseline data, is a disagreement among development agencies over
indicators. For example, there does not exist a single universally accepted measure of women's
status, despite the fact that improving women's status is a major objective of many WID projects.
This complicates project evaluation and makes it difficult to make precise measurements of a
project's impact on women's status, for example.

Evaluation of WID problems can also be problematic if the evaluation is carried out too early in
the project cycle. Implementation of WID projects typically takes longer to train staff, secure
financing, and build an expertise in WID. A premature evaluation may result in inaccurate
findings.

Another problem associated with WID evaluation is a tendency to focus on summative
evaluations, that measure outcomes, rather then formative evaluations that measure activities in
progress. Summative evaluations are normally conducted at the end of projects, which eliminates
the possibility of implementing changes or making mid-course adjustments. Formative
evaluations may detect problems and constraints early on and allow the possibility for the project
to make modifications that can improve project outcomes.

The task of defining precisely what constitutes a WID failure or success is difficult. However,
there appears to be some consensus in the WID literature regarding certain project qualities or
outcomes which might serve as general criteria for defining a success or a failure. The following
discussion will review these major criteria.

WID failures are often projects which cause unintended negative side effects due to a "blindness
of women's needs and constraints". The following is a listing of some unintended negative effects
that have resulted from WID interventions:

Violence towards women Women are sometimes the objects of abuse by family and community
members because of their participation in a project. Women's increased power and independence
may prove threatening to men resulting in a backlash of violence. This sometimes occurs when
women who achieve economic success and are accused of obtaining their economic gains through
prostitution or witch craft (Brydon and Chant, 1989).

Create a double (or triple) burden Projects that ignore women's existing reproductive,
productive, and subsistence agriculture responsibilities may place an even greater burden on
women's already heavy workload. The added burden may outweigh the benefits accruing to
women through their participation in the project.

Male take-over In some cases projects which have demonstrated benefits for women -
particularly by increasing cash income - have been taken over by males in the community once
they noted the positive results.

Lack of control over income Although women may earn an income through a project, this does
not necessarily mean they can retain control over that income. In many (perhaps most) cases,
women must hand their earnings to their spouses, who in turn may not use the money in a manner
which benefits the women who earned the money. As such, increasing women's income does not
necessarily translate to greater independence, better quality of life, or improved status.

Unintended negative results from development projects are normally caused by a failure to
recognize local cultural constraints and to develop strategies for dealing with those constraints.
This failure to recognize and plan for constraints is characteristic of "top down" approaches to
development which do not include beneficiaries in the planning, design and implementation of
projects.

These WID failures are also a result of failure to recognize women's separate roles as reproducers
and producers. Projects which see women only as reproducers may serve only to reinforce
women's traditional roles and do little to change their status. However, projects which focus on
women as producers must recognize and plan for their reproductive responsibilities or else they
may only serve to increase women's burdens - with few benefits. WID efforts must, therefore,
take into account women's multiple roles in their households and communities.

Perhaps the most profound reason for failure of WID projects is their refusal to address strategic
needs. It is questionable to what degree a project can address strategic needs while the practical
needs of the beneficiaries remain unfulfilled. For reasons of basic survival practical needs take
precedence over strategic needs. However, without addressing strategic needs it is impossible to
truly empower women and bring about fundamental change. (Momsen, 1991; Brydon and Chant,
1989).

In reality, project successes in WID have been far and few. However, there are certain qualities
that are associated with projects that have some degree of success. Projects with a gender-aware,
bottom-up orientation are generally felt to represent a more effective approach to development
because they are more likely to synchronize with local cultural practices and will have a high level
of beneficiary participation. Whether introduced externally or from within the community, this
approach is seen to have more success than the top-down orientation that fails to engage local
cultural realities (Jain, 1980; Brydon and Chant, 1984).

Income generation can play a key role in increasing women's independence and access to
economic resources. Increased access to economic resources, capital and equity can significantly
improve women's decision-making influence within the family and their overall status. However,
increasing women's income alone does not necessarily mean that their status will increase. Dixon
concludes that it is often easier to increase women's income than to improve their status (Dixon,
1985). Dixon cites examples where women were earning an income but were either subject to
restricted personal freedom if married or, were either widows or deserted wives and considered
to be of low status if unmarried. Projects that work towards improving women's status in
addition to increasing income generation are more likely to truly benefit women and as such be
considered as "successful."

In order for a project to improve women's status it must address strategic needs in addition to
practical needs. Few projects have successfully done so, despite the fact that is a necessary step
in empowering women and reducing the inequalities that exist between men and women.

In order to effectively incorporate women in development projects and programs into national
development agendas it is necessary for planners to recognize and understand: a) the multiple
roles women play in reproductive, productive and subsistence agricultural work; and b) the true
economic contribution they provide to their communities (Brydon and Chant, 1989). Without
support in reducing their domestic and community labor loads it is highly unlikely that
development efforts will truly be successful in benefiting women. In other words, development
planners and managers must address women's double (or triple) burden when planning and
implementing development projects.

There is an urgent need for more accurate research and information on third world women's lives.
Women's activities and the economic contribution they make to their respective communities is
rarely reflected with any accuracy in national statistics or the planning and implementation of
development projects that employ those statistics (Beneria, 1983; Maguire, 1984; Brydon and
Chant, 1989; Dixon, 1985; Boserup, 1986). Without this information, development planners are
unable to develop projects and programs which meet women's real needs.

Women must have increased access to, and control over, economic resources in order to improve
the quality of their lives and their status. However, increasing income earning opportunities alone
is not a sufficient condition.

In order to empower women and bring about fundamental change, development efforts must
address women's strategic needs in addition to their practical needs (Momsen, 1991; Brydon and
Chant, 1989).

Economic development often has a differential impact on men and women. Development projects
with a low level of beneficiary participation in the design and implementation of the projects tend
to ignore women's needs and often exclude them from projects altogether. Consequently these
projects may have a negative impact on women by exacerbating the inequalities among the sexes
and widening the gap between men and women's earning power (Momsen, 1991; Brydon and
Chant, 1989; Maguire, 1984; Boserup 1986; Sen and Grown, 1987).

Women's active involvement in the development process is not only beneficial for women but for
society as a whole. Women are essential to development.

The SSVE project mobilizes the landless, the landed and marginal landholders through a modern
shareholding structure to form a franchised network of village enterprises based on duckweed
cultivation and duckweed-fed aquaculture of carp and tilapia. This corporate structure utilizes
modern management techniques and provides a mechanism through which the rural poor obtain
access to capital and technology. The Shobuj Shona model enables capital formation for all
shareholding participants through their investment of land or labor. Landed and landless pool
their investments of land and labor to form a common asset of a joint. Women, who are normally
landless, have the unique opportunity to accumulate assets and to exercise democratic control
over those assets through participation in the project.

The SSVE corporate structure enables a modern external institution to actively participate in
village-level enterprise on a true, partnership basis. In return for its managerial and catalytic
function, its provision of technical expertise, and its access to external finance and markets, the
external partner (PRISM, in this instance) accepts minority shares in each SSVE.

Village-level SSVE enterprises are supported by Shobuj Shona Centers, a 10 hectare farming and
logistics support center endowed with all technical, managerial, financial and marketing
infrastructure necessary to support up to 100 near-by SSVEs.

PRISM has established, and now manages two Shobuj Shona Centers to provide support to the 9
existing SSVE villages - 7 villages in the Shibaloy area and two outside of Mirzapur. Ten village
coordinators now serve as a direct link between the SSVE corporations and the Shobuj Shona
Centers, providing technical assistance, supervision and management to the enterprises.
Currently 17 coordinators are in training at the Mirzapur Shobuj Shona Center in preparation for
the planned expansion into 60 additional villages.

In contrast to more conventional WID development efforts, the SSVE model is unique in various
respects. The following are specific qualities which distinguish the SSVE model from more
conventional development efforts involving women.

Challenging women's traditional roles The SSVE project challenges women's traditional roles
by involving them in 'productive' agricultural work outside of the home. SSVE project activities
are technical in nature and involve agricultural fieldwork which is traditionally male dominated in
Bangladesh. Traditional women's income earning activities promoted through projects would
more likely include handicrafts, crop processing and garment production.

The SSVE project also challenges women's traditional roles since they are brought into the
project as stockholders with ownership and decision making rights equal to male participants.
Although the need to increase women's access to income and assets is widely recognized,
development efforts are normally cautious about engineering such rapid changes to the local
socio-economic structure.

In Bangladesh women are largely associated with the reproductive sphere and their activities are
normally tied to the household. Cultural constraints also limit women spatially from leaving their
homes. The SSVE project closely ties women to productive activities outside the household that
require their spatial separation from the home. By generating their own income and assets they
take on the role of producers in addition to their traditional role as reproducers.

Formally involving the Extended Family Bangladeshi communities typically live in extended
families - with as many as 20 nuclear families living together in a common "bari" homestead.
Above all else, the extended family represents "security" for every Bangladeshi. It mitigates the
effects of individual unemployment, sickness or other disaster. The extended family is the well-spring of the Bengali culture, of personal value systems, and of social morality. It possesses
enormous labor resources that can be instantly deployed or withdrawn - without significantly
affecting the stability of the family itself. It is a collective day care center for children. It provides
temporary care for infants.

The SSVE project seeks to avail of the enormous hidden labor assets of the extended family
during times of temporary need. By endowing a woman with stock, and reinforcing her
productivity (see Footnote 8) - as opposed to merely her time - the SSVE provides a powerful
incentive for the extended family to "add value" to the woman's participation by: a) providing free
extra hands when she may require assistance at the pondside; b) picking up the slack at home with
respect to child care and household work; and c) becoming "intellectually" involved with her
work and the progress she is making or, conversely, the problems she is having. Ultimately, it is
virtually costless for the extended family to inject additional labor. In the case of duckweed
production this additional labor can realize very high returns at the margin.

[Footnote 8: The SSVE pays labor on the basis of productivity - which is not a novel concept in
itself. Where it differs from other "piece work" systems is that it pays on an increasing slope
basis. At the margin, the payment per unit of production continues to increase. For example, a
woman may receive 3 takas for harvesting 300 kgs of duckweed on a given day. She might
receive 2 takas for harvesting 220 kgs, but that would increase to 4 takas for harvesting 350 kgs
and 6 takas for 400 kgs . . . etc..]

Addressing strategic needs The SSVE model attempts to address strategic needs in addition to
practical needs. Rather then simply offering women employment opportunities the SSVE model
seeks to empower women through the ownership of a tangible asset - SSVE stock. It is assumed
that practical needs will be met through women's income derived from employment by the project.
Shareholding goes beyond that, however, by endowing the woman with ownership and decision-making powers in her own corporation. Shareholdings offers the possibility of future economic
security for women participants which is independent of their husband's or father's property or
income.

Conventional development efforts normally fail to address strategic needs, despite the fact that
this is widely viewed as a prerequisite to achieving social and economic equality for women.
Addressing strategic needs enters the risky realm of challenging the political, social and economic
status quo in addition to requiring a significant long-term financial and personal commitment.

Challenging local social and economic status quo The SSVE model challenges the local social
and economic status quo by instantly providing traditionally disadvantaged groups such as women
and the landless with an income significantly greater than the local norm - as well as tangible
assets in the form of shareholdings.

Landed and landless people, traditionally antagonists, are brought into the project as partners for
mutual self-benefit. Also, in contravention of traditional social norms, men and women are
organized into a unit to work together as equals. All of these aspects of the SSVE model
challenge the local social and economic status quo. As mentioned earlier, conventional
development efforts are more reluctant to take on this task and prefer to orchestrate more
gradual change. They reflect a common concern that to bestow massive, immediate increases in
income, technological capacity and social status on a few, privileged community members will
create a local social imbalance sufficient to destabilize the entire community.

Introducing corporate structure into rural Bangladeshi society The implementation of a
modern for-profit corporate structure into a rural setting is a unique element of the SSVE model.
While cooperatives, associations, "groups" and cottage industries are fairly common, a formal
corporate model is a novel concept. While running the risk of being too novel a concept for
villagers to grasp, the "newness" of the corporate structure may actually facilitate the introduction
of asset acquisition by women and landless people - i.e., social constraints on female ownership in
such institutions do not yet exist.

Introducing Lemnaceae technology Although the SSVE model could potentially be applied to
various other activities, it is now structured around aspects of duckweed aquaculture. These new
technologies have only recently emerged from extensive R&D and have not yet been implemented
on a large scale under largely uncontrolled circumstances. Women SSVE members have, in
effect, a head start at a bright new technology that promises to revolutionize fish farming in
Bangladesh. Although various development projects occasionally introduce new technologies,
agricultural innovations are invariably targeted at men - do the detriment of women (Boserup,
1986). In other cases the introduction of a new technology has often had the effect of displacing
women from their traditional role in agriculture.

Given the fact that duckweed farming is a new technology, there is no pre-existing sexual division
of labor associated with it. In many cultures women are assigned agricultural tasks such as
weeding and which are thought to require patience, dexterity and persistence. These same
qualities are required for successful duckweed farming. Duckweed farming requires regular and
continuous maintenance, careful monitoring, and high precision. It does not require the mastery
of heavy machinery, sophisticated equipment or great physical strength.

Mixed-sex project The SSVE project involves the creation of units comprising both men and
women. In Bangladesh there is a tendency for single-sex group formation in "collective" projects.
This is done in order to overcome cultural constraint which limit women's contact with males
outside of the family. The SSVE project runs the potential risk of inhibiting female participation
by having mixed sex units. On the other hand the project runs less risk of loss of status in the
community by being labeled a "women's project".

High degree of beneficiary participation The concept of a high degree of beneficiary
participation as being conducive to successful project outcomes is fairly common. However, even
with good intentions, beneficiary participation in project decision making is difficult to implement
and achieve. The SSVE model seeks to encourage a high degree of beneficiary participation
through mechanisms such as an elected Executive Committee representing each village
corporation, focus/informant groups, and internal weekly unit meetings.

High degree of interdependence between the villager and external institutional resources
It is the presumption of almost every development project that "functional independence" is the
primary project goal. This assumes that the "project catalyst" must eventually leave, with
villagers then assuming themselves whatever function that catalyst originally provided. The
SSVE project takes the radical view that "functional independence" is the antithesis of
"modernization." There is, therefore, no presumption that the project catalyst will ever leave. In
fact, the SSVE project promotes the ever-increasing interdependence (call it "specialization")
with external factors - which it believes to be an essential condition for modernization. Failing
this, villagers will be forever trapped in extreme poverty, unable to compete against an
increasingly interdependent and specialized modern world. (See footnote 9). The SSVE project
takes the view that each villager should always take maximum advantage of his comparative
advantage, noting that it will gradually shift with his increasing wealth and sophistication (See
footnote 9a).

[Footnote 9: The SSVE project takes the view that the development industry has become trapped
by the political implications of the words "independent" and "self-sufficient." Gandhi's metaphor
of the "self-sufficient" villager spinning his own thread has somehow become cast in stone -
despite the fact that national independence is no longer an issue in these countries. His
martyrdom and deification have only compounded the problem - which remains the most serious
single constraint to third world rural development today (Skillicorn, 1993)]

[Footnote 9a: With increasing wealth it will be necessary to inject higher levels of technology into
production processes, and to gradually move away from agriculture to small-scale distributed
manufacturing]

As mentioned earlier, the GB model is currently the best known and most successful development
effort targeting women in Bangladesh. Therefor it is interesting, therefore, to contrast the GB
and SSVE models. While they have obvious differences, they also share similarities. Perhaps
more profound are the subtle distinctions which differentiate the two models.

The strongest obvious similarity between the GB and SSVE models is the use of groups. Both
models are structured around groups and rely heavily upon group guarantees and peer pressure
for their success. In the GB model, the entire group is held accountable for individual group
member loans should he default. The SSVE model has a different type of group guarantee
wherein individual salaries are dependent upon group productivity and performance, and the
entire corporation bears responsibility for repayment of credit, with the price of default reflected
in diminished dividends and a drop in stock value.

Peer pressure plays an important role in both models. GB members exert pressure on fellow
members to make loan payments and SSVE members pressure each other to maintain high levels
of productivity and "pull their own weight".

Both models also require that groups demonstrate fiscal discipline through mandatory savings.
The GB requires that members place a small weekly savings in a group fund while the SSVE
model requires both group and individual savings as a prerequisite for participation.

Another similarity between the two models is their approach of bringing the project activities to
the village doorstep. The GB assigns bank officers to villages, requiring that they meet with
groups within their home villages. The SSVE analog is the SSVE coordinator, who lives in the
village and provides constant daily supervision as well as a daily interface with the nearby Shobuj
Shona Center - which pays his salary and productivity.

The final similarity the GB and SSVE models share is their dependence on intensive supervision
in order to insure the success of participants activities. The GB utilizes highly trained bank
officers to closely follows the entire loan process through to complete repayment. The SSVE
model relies heavily upon technically trained coordinators who supervise unit productivity and
performance.

The GB and SSVE model are very different in various aspects. The following summary of these
differences helps highlight the salient features of the SSVE model and how it is distinguished from
the principal development model in Bangladesh today.

1. The GB is a specialized public financial
organization. While bank borrowers are
considered shareholders of the bank they are
not issue individual stock certificates nor do
they receive dividends on their shareholdings
or "bank ownership" - and they are not
called upon to vote on or to endorse any
decision of the management (Skillicorn,
1993). The ownership issue if meaningless.

1. The SSVE model is a for-profit private
corporation consisting of a franchise-like
network of village enterprises. Individual
members receive shares based on their land
or deferred labor contributions. Dividends
are paid on shareholdings. Shares in the
SSVE model reflect a market price and may
be bought, sold and passed on through
inheritance as with any other modern
publicly held corporation.

Unlike the GB, villagers do not "own a
nominal piece of" the key external catalytic
institution - in this case PRISM. Rather,
PRISM owns 15% of each SSVE as
compensation for its "franchise rights" and
its direct investment in the local Shobuj
Shona Center.

2. The GB target group is limited to people
who are functionally landless, owning less
then .5 acres.

2. The SSVE target group consists of
functionally landless people, defined as
people with less then 1 Bigha (.3 acres or 1/8
ha.), and landed people. Landless comprise
approximately 75% of all SSVE shareholders
with landed comprising the remaining 25%.
The current upper limit on land holdings is
10 ha. - to inhibit "take-over" by powerful
landlords.

3. The high rates of GB supervision are paid
for through imposition of extremely high (by
banking standards) interest rates,
development subsidies from bilateral and
multilateral development organizations and
earning from short-term deposits of heavily
subsidized loans. This has had the effect of
putting continuously upward pressure on
interest rates as GB administrative and
overhead costs continue to rise. At a time
when the lowest Sonali Bank development
project interest rates were 9%, the Grameen
Bank was forced to raise its rates from an
already high 16% to 25%. The GB
management offers the rationale that this is
"still considerably lower than rates charged
by village money lenders." Ultimately,
however, the only credible solution will be to
lower rates of supervision - with predictable
consequences.

Ultimately, the supervision (or technical
assistance) provided by the GB is "divorced"
from the consequences of good or poor
productivity - and cannot be truly responsive
to the production process. Simply raising
interest rates to cover increased costs is, in
effect, blithely "passing the buck to the
villager."

3. The cost of the extremely high rates of
PRISM supervision are borne directly by
SSVE production, because PRISM is a
shareholder in each SSVE and profits
directly from dividends issued by each
corporation. Supervisors are, themselves,
paid on the basis of the productivity of the
units they supervise.

Credit is treated quite differently in the
SSVE model. PRISM, as the franchise
organization, takes responsibility for
acquiring all necessary credit on behalf of the
SSVE corporations. Transaction costs for
the credit provider (i.e., the Bank) is then
reduced to a single transaction between
PRISM and itself - a very attractive
proposition for any rural development bank,
which can then claim almost cost-free
distribution of funds right down to the
village level. The actual disbursement and
"management" of the credit is then done by
PRISM - not as a bank, but rather as a true
partner in the production of duckweed and
fish. This has the effect of keeping real
interest rates to a minimum (i.e., 9% versus
25%) and distributing the cost of credit
supervision where it belongs - to the
production process itself.

4. GB participants receive cash-in-hand
loans which they must carefully manage and
individually invest in developing a good or
service which they must then offer for sale.
In some respects this mechanism involves a
high degree of risk for the individual who
must meet weekly loan payments and resist
the temptation to use the loan for pressing
daily survival needs. While participants
receive training on bank procedures and
social programs they receive little technical
assistance in developing and marketing their
product or service.

4. SSVE participants never receive
individual cash loans. They take on the
responsibility of paying the SSC back for
supplies and services through their unit's
group productivity. In this model the
personal risk is significantly lower, as
individuals do not personally handle cash nor
are they obligated to make weekly payments.
The risk they take is on the value of land and
labor inputs they have already invested in the
project.

Salaries and dividend earnings are highly
dependent upon group productivity. Since
the SSVE unit's activities are centered
around duckweed/fish aquaculture, the SSC
center is able to provide a high degree of
technical assistance in all production
processes. Also the

The SSC mitigates its risk by being the sole
provider of inputs and by providing
consolidated external marketing services to
all associated SSVEs. In this manner, all
"receipts" pass through the SSC before being
disbursed to SSVEs. Credit repayment
becomes a simple matter of disbursing a
lesser amount back to the SSVE.

5. GB borrowers are more independent of
the project then are SSVE shareholders. GB
participants generate self-employment as a
result of their loan - personally handling all
aspects of their income earning activities.
With cessation of GB credit, it is assumed
the GB participants will be able to continue
on with their individual income earning
activities.

The GB model celebrates functional
independence and self-sufficiency.

5. SSVE participants are completely
integrated with the project at all.
Employment is provided through the project
and shares are acquired through land
contribution and deferred payment to labor.
The SSVE units and SSC share a special
interdependent relationship where the SSC
Center provides inputs, technical services,
and marketing while SSVE units provide a
specified level of productivity. Since the
project is functioning as a franchise network
of corporations a degree of central
management and technical assistance is
necessary. The SSVE project would argue
that all corporate entities rely on a variety of
outside goods and services and the SSVE
unit corporations are no different.

Interdependence between "technologically
and financially competent" external
institutions and the villager lies at the heart
of the SSVE model. The SSVE model
argues that the very essence of
modernization is increasing
interdependence.

6. The GB project does not provide loans
for crop production, however it does provide
funds for a variety of crop processing
activities.

6. The SSVE project is centered around
agricultural production - specifically
duckweed aquaculture.

The SSVE project recognizes that with the
increasing wealth of its corporate
shareholders, corporations must acquire
increasing amounts of technology in order to
compensate for higher wages. Corporations
must also move their focus away from
agriculture to manufacturing, where returns
to capital and technology are higher.

7. GB officers normally have no technical
expertise and are therefore not expected to
provide technical assistance to GB
participant's productive activities. In special
cases the GB has provided some technical
assistance in a particular activity it has
chosen to promote in an area (Skillicorn,
1993).

7. SSVE coordinators are agricultural
experts who are expected to provide
continuous technical assistance to units they
supervise.

Unlike the GB, where loan officers make
scheduled visits, the SSVE supervisor is
expected to work at production sites,
providing continuous monitoring and
supervision.

To introduce a new corporate development model based loosely on modern franchise
methodologies - yet ensure consistency with the requirements of rural Bangladeshi culture.

To address, as project beneficiaries, the poorest segments of rural society - landless laborers,
women and small to medium farmers.

To enable landless and women beneficiaries to "invest" labor in lieu of land in acquiring corporate
shares - and to ensure that those shares have equal value to shares issued against the investment
of land or monetary resources.

To significantly enrich each project beneficiary.

To permanently improve the status of female project beneficiaries.

To establish new product standards at the village level enabling implementation of distribution
and marketing technologies which emphasize consumer utility and product value.

To improve the local ecology and environmental sanitation by colleting and recycling as
duckweed a significant portion of the human fecal product of each participating village.

By increasing both the wealth and income of Bangladesh's poorest sectors through this
mechanism, PRISM's SSVE project objectives remain consistent with those of the Government of
Bangladesh's current Five Year Plan - which emphasizes agricultural production and employment
generation as the basis for a rural development program designed to achieve sustained
employment and income generation for the rural poor.

With respect to women, the SSVE project looks to provide rural women with the opportunity to
acquire technical duckweed farming skills, earn a significant steady income, and accumulate assets
in the form of SSVE stock. The SSVE project believes that through increased access to
economic resources and the ownership of SSVE shareholdings the women participating in the
project will not only improve their economic condition but also their social status within their
families and communities.

The specific organizational objectives as stated in the SSVE project proposal are as follows:

Establish franchised SSV Units in villages in which a group of 15-25 members of the targeted
population organize themselves into a legal business (under the conditions specified for an SSVE
franchise), invest 6-10 hectares of land for integrated Lemnaceae and fish farming, and establish a
minimum capital fund through sustained savings.

Develop SSV Units into efficient village level production systems through the efforts of an SSV
Coordinator who will serve as a permanent on-site technical and management advisor, credit
coordinator, and liaison between the SSV Unit and the Shobuj Shona Center which provides
support to affiliated SSV units.

Develop an effective operations support infrastructure in the form of Shobuj Shona Centers
(SSC) which will finance their own infrastructure through a demonstration farm and provide
support for up to 100 SSV Units. The SSC will be responsible for local development of farming
protocols, supply of Lemnaceae and fish stocks, supply of other inputs when needed, purchase
and processing of excess supplies of harvested Lemnaceae, training and extension, financial
monitoring and accounting and credit management.

Establish a greatly expanded Shobuj Shona Research and Development Center (SSR&DC)
which will support its activities by research grants and contracts, by sales of Lemnaceae seed
stock, and by sales of the product of an extensive experimental farming system. The SSR&DC
will be responsible for scientific investigation, maintenance of Lemnaceae germ plasm stocks,
evaluation of trends in Lemnaceae aquaculture, and other studies as appropriate. The SSR&DC
Center will operate independently of SSV Enterprises. Its work will not be proprietary, and its
results will be open to any interested party.

Eventually create a public corporation, SSV Enterprises, in which SSV Units have equity and
gradually, themselves assume management responsibility for the franchised SSV Units, the SSV
Coordinators, and the SSC Centers. Until that time, PRISM-Bangladesh will continue to provide
overall management of the SSV Enterprise project.

The primary SSVE target group comprises landless laborers, women and small to medium sized
farmers. The majority of the targeted farmers own less than 1.5 acres of arable land - usually low
lying areas and derelict ponds which now find little useful application. The criteria used, in the
project and for the purposes of this evaluation, in establishing the landless condition will be
landholdings less then the Bangladeshi land unit of 1 Bigha (about 1/8 ha.). Under this condition
approximately 75% of the SSVE shareholders are categorized as landless with the remaining 25%
being landed. This breakdown of shareholder classification reflects landholding patterns in the
typical Bangladeshi village (Skillicorn- personal communications, 1992). All women participants
will likely fall within the landless category. None of the shareholders are expected to own more
then 10 ha. of land as that was an initial constraining requirement for participation in the project.
This requirement would anyway exclude few potential shareholders as the average Bangladeshi
village (5,000 to 10,000 persons) may only have a handful of persons with landholdings
exceeding 10 ha. (Skillicorn - personal communications, 1992).

The target population constitute approximately 68% of Bangladesh's rural population. Their per
capita income is significantly lower then the national average of $130 per year. The average
family of 5-6 persons normally cannot be sustained through agriculture alone, requiring families to
supplement their farm income through other agriculture-related activities such as field labor,
rearing animals, and petty trading among other activities. This group suffers disproportionately
from illness, malnutrition, poor housing and sanitation, and illiteracy (75%). Among these,
women suffer the most since they have fewer employment opportunities and have difficulty
acquiring land under the Muslim Law of Inheritance and local cultural constraints (PRISM, 1992.
Shobuj Shona (SSV) Enterprises).

Currently only 15% of the existing project participants are women. However, the SSVE project
has formally stated the objective of eventually achieving a ratio of 50% female project
participants.

In order for target beneficiaries to form a SSVE they must meet the following criteria:

Organize themselves into a group of 15-25 members including landless people, and register as a
legal business in which the members or owners are responsible for contracted debt.

Commit amongst themselves at least 6 hectares of land to the corporation on a long term basis - a
10 year lease for example.

Establish group and individual bank accounts to demonstrate their ability to save. The group
must sustain 6 months of savings prior to being awarded a franchise.

Define the SSV Unit organization and develop management and production plans which
demonstrate the capability of owners to make decisions and to carry them out.

Establish a proper meetings venue and demonstrate regular attendance. "Meaningful" group
meetings must be held with consistent regular attendance for 6 months prior to being granted a
franchise.

With the assistance of a temporarily assigned SSV coordinator, the business must evaluate its
resources and planned organizational structure and then produce a business plan which is utilized
in franchise negotiations. The business plan must meet all the criteria for being awarded a
franchise.

Crop yields in Bangladesh are low compared to most other Asian countries. Overall production
of carbohydrate crops have increased over the last decade but Bangladesh lags behind in its
production of protein foods. Technologies such as improved fertilizers, seeds, irrigation and farm
systems reach only a small percentage of Bangladeshi farmers. This low level of production and
technology results in low income.

Fish constitutes eighty percent of the animal protein consumed in Bangladesh, despite the fact
that it is scarce and largely out of reach for the poor. One kilo of a fish such as carp costs the
equivalent of three days wages for a day worker. As a result there is an increasing risk of protein
malnutrition among the poor.

In addition to the problems of limited technology and credit mentioned earlier, freshwater fisheries
in Bangladesh have experienced problems due to a lack of inexpensive, locally produced, high
protein feed sources. Despite these limitations, freshwater fisheries represent the most significant
unrealized productive potentials in Bangladesh.

The SSVE project approaches these problems and potential through two key innovative concepts.
The first involves application of novel Lemnaceae technologies that enable significant increases in
production of high quality fish feed and fish for. The high yielding plant is capable of producing
30 times more protein per hectare then soybean, a plant of comparable nutritional value. It is an
excellent fish feed that can be made widely available at a low cost. Duckweed aquaculture does
not require a great deal of expensive equipment or employ "high technology" and is therefore a
feasible technology for small rural farmers - enabling them to make productive use of their derelict
and underutilized ponds. Duckweed production is also very labor intensive - generating
significant new job opportunities at the village level and allowing villagers to earn a "good" living
in their villages without having to migrate to the city in search of employment.

Another significant benefit of duckweed aquaculture is that it can be cultivated with wastewater
or village nightsoil - instead of expensive commercial fertilizers. As a result, the potentially
dangerous waste is treated - improving local village environmental conditions and reducing the
incidence of enteric infection among the local population. A well managed duckweed-fed fish
aquaculture system can generate high financial returns for even the smallest farmers.

The second key SSVE innovation is that of village level corporations - assisted by Shobuj Shona
Centers which provide technical assistance, training, credit, marketing and management services.
Producer cooperatives in Bangladesh have historically had low success rates. The franchised
enterprise network seeks to overcome many of the deficiencies of the cooperative system by
enabling the accumulation of capital assets (shares or stock) by all participants through investment
of either land or labor. This unique model strives to "allow landed and landless to work together
for mutual self-interest, rather than being cast in their traditional role as antagonists". (PRISM,
1992. The Shobuj Shona Village Enterprise Project.) The idea is that the synergy of mutual
participation in the SSVE corporation achieves higher returns for each group member than they
might otherwise achieve - whether it involves the exploitation of landless laborers or, on the other
side, the seizure and redistribution of large land holdings.

A listing of the basic SSVE model elements follows - the SSVE is still in an early implementation
stage and expansion is projected for several years to come, therefore the last two elements are still
in the planning stage. The following are the elements of the SSVE model. The SSVE is still in an
early implementation stage and expansion is projected for several years to come, therefore the last
two elements are still in the planning stages.

SSV Enterprises, Inc. -- ( will remain with PRISM-Bangladesh as long as SSVE remains a
publicly funded PRISM project. It will eventually be spun off as a publicly-held corporation with
National Management)

Shobuj Shona R&D Center -- (An independent institute which will remain non-profit with all results openly available to any interested scientists, duckweed "practitioners" or
institutions)

Shobuj Shona Village Unit The SSV Unit consists of 15-25 male and female stockholders who
manage up to 6 ha. of land (either "invested" or provided under a long-term irrevocable lease) - 3
ha. are dedicated to duckweed production and 3 ha. to duckweed-fed fish production. In addition
to duckweed and fish, these units grow other profitable crops (bamboo, bananas, lentils, squash
and other vegetables) on the perimeter of duckweed and fish ponds - taking advantage of the
unlimited available water and nutrients. Also, the SSVE units produce duckweed-fed chickens
and eggs.

Members organize themselves into work teams (5-6 persons) having complete production
responsibility for 1 to 2 hectares of small ponds - duckweed crop maintenance, harvesting,
guarding the fish, and local pond-side marketing.

Members have the opportunity to earn through this system in three ways. First, they are
remunerated on a rising-slope, performance-based payment for field work on a daily basis. This
system does not simply pay wages on a straight taka (Bangladeshi currency) per ton scale, instead
it pays increasingly higher marginal returns to increased production - reflecting the incremental
value of increased production to the corporation. This also serves as a deterrent to internal theft
or "self consumption" because, at the margin, the value of Shobuj Shona products for individual
members is significantly higher then the local market value of those items. Above a certain target
threshold for fish production, SSVE's may even pay their workers the entire receipts from sale of
fish.

A second earning mechanism is through corporate profits, where shareholders are paid dividends
according to their ownership of stock. The third earning mechanism now being considered
involves a monthly lottery where tickets are awarded to work teams for sustained high levels of
production and are also randomly distributed to those found working the field on unannounced
visits.

Each village corporation elects its own internal Executive Committee consisting of a chairman, a
treasurer and a secretary. The Executive Committee assigns members to work teams, and these
decisions are ratified (or rejected) by all unit members during weekly or bi-weekly meetings. The
corporation has absolute discretion over work team division of labor, the organization of village
meetings, and the spending and reinvestment of profits. In cooperation with the SSC, SSV units
have input into production, marketing, expansion, membership and personnel decisions. As a
franchisee, the corporation commits to rigorously follow the SSC production protocols in order
to assure a consistently high level of production and quality of product - the key to the enterprise's
success.

Each SSV Unit also sends a few members to occasional Focus/ Informant Groups at the SSC.
This provides another mechanism for incorporating the SSV enterprises into the general SSC
decision making processes.

Shobuj Shona Village Coordinator The village coordinator is the critical operational element
in the franchise agreement. The coordinator is employed by the closest SSC but must reside in
the village he is serving. He serves as the link between the SSC and the village corporation. His
responsibilities include monitoring and maintaining production, providing training and technical
assistance, and advising and monitoring village level business transactions. He also serves as the
intermediary between the SSC and his SSV unit for credit arrangements and other business
transactions.

The coordinator is perhaps the most important position within the SSV enterprise network. He
must have good managerial, accounting and technical skills. Normally the SSC attempts to
recruit local young men and women with advanced degrees in agriculture to fill this position. The
coordinator receives a base salary from the SSC which is set at a competitive level with
comparable urban jobs. In addition, the coordinator may receive as much as 5% of the net profit
of the SSVE village or villages he is serving. The coordinator's income potential is, therefore,
highly dependent on the productivity of the SSV units he supervises. That productivity, in turn, is
a reflection the effort and time he dedicates to his villages. This incentive system strives to
promote highly dedicated coordinators who have an earning potential superior to any comparable
urban employment.

Currently there are 10 coordinators serving six active SSVE villages and 20 new SSV units under
development. Seventeen additional coordinators are now undergoing training at the Mirzapur
Shobuj Shona training and research center. By mid-1993 at least 30 SSV Units are projected to
be up and running in preparation for the new monsoon season. In the future, one coordinator will
be expected to handle 2-3 village units with the help of an assistant for each unit. However, at the
moment each coordinator handles only one village.

With the expansion of the franchise network, the SSV coordinators will be equipped with a
specially-programmed portable microcomputer system to maintain daily records of yields and
sales, and to calculate incentive bonuses and daily salaries for on-the-spot disbursement. In
addition the computer will permit the coordinator to keep accurate business accounts, maintain
process quality control on production systems, and monitor environmental parameters for later
analysis.

The SSV Unit receives outside supervision from quarterly on-site 2-day visits from a SSC quality
assurance team which conducts in-service monitoring and training. At least once a week
coordinators participate in Focus/Informant Groups that the SSC uses to obtain feedback, assess
trends and do operations planning. Also, coordinators will occasionally attend formal 1-2 day
refresher training sessions at the SSC Center which they then replicate for their SSV units.

Shobuj Shona Center Each SSC will eventually serve as the management, training and
technical support center for each group of up to 100 SSV Units. The SS centers (SSCs) in
Mirzapur and Shibaloy occupy approximately 10 hectares of land and contain: a) a 4 hectare
duckweed farm, b) a 4 hectare fish farm and hatchery, c) duckweed drying and storage facilities,
d) simple fish processing, handling storage and shipping facilities, e) a fertilizer and supplies
center, f) a training center, g) a central administrative office block, h) a library, I) a small
laboratory, and j) simple accommodations for up to 20 trainees.

Current practice requires that each Shobuj Shona Center sustains itself initially through grants
and then through the sale of products produced on the demonstration farm. As SSV enterprises
are developed and begin full-scale operations, primary support will be increasingly derived from
the 15% shareholding in each SSV Unit. Once expansion has reached the full support capacity of
each SS center, the "surplus income" will be contributed to PRISM's central Shobuj Shona fund
for eventual investment in new Shobuj Shona centers throughout Bangladesh.

The two functioning Shobuj Shona Centers now depend heavily on grant money from
the Catholic Relief Services, The United Nations Development Programme, The United Nations
Capital Development Fund, USAID, UNICEF and various US foundations for operations support
- although farm operations at each site are already completely self-supporting.

Shobuj Shona Village Enterprises INC. Ultimately the goal of the SSVE project is to create a
national corporation, SSV Enterprises, which would take over the management of all Shobuj
Shona Centers and their franchisees. This will take place once the SSVE project reaches a critical
mass and has achieved financial self-sufficiency. PRISM will oversee the creation and registration
of the national corporation. Upon its creation, a limited number of shares now held by PRISM
Bangladesh will be offered to private investors in order to raise capital for expansion.

Shobuj Shona Research and Development Center Currently all research and development is
carried out at PRISM Bangladesh's research station at the Kumudini Welfare Trust Complex in
Mirzapur. Eventually, with promised funding from the Government of the Netherlands and the
World Bank, this facility will be greatly expanded to form a Shobuj Shona R&D Center. The
center will carry out basic and applied research on Lemnaceae, Lemnaceae cultivation and
Lemnaceae-based fish and livestock production. This center will also work to develop
information, training and management systems for the expanding SSVE project. The R&D center
will remain a non-profit institute supported by research grants, contracted services and sales of
improved seed stock.

It is important to point out that the SSVE project introduces various innovative concepts, several
of which if successful, would be considered revolutionary in the field of international
development. The evaluation will focus primarily on the role of women in the project but it will
also seek to measure to what degree these concepts are actually being implemented and
succeeding. Evaluation results should hold value for the SSVE project and its participants, as
well as for the larger NGO and donor communities in Bangladesh. There is now significant
interest in the SSVE concept throughout the country. Five key innovative aspects of the project
are described as follows:

I. "Landed and landless people working together in mutual self interest"

The concept of landed and landless people working together in mutual self-interest to generate
profits which benefits both is a revolutionary concept in development. Traditional efforts to
distribute benefits to the poor often involved land reform, where land resources are expropriated
from land owners and redistributed among the landless. This redistributive model has had at best
mixed results and has often resulted in an overall reduction in production and a gradual evolution
back to inequalities inherent in the pre-land reform era - albeit this time with a rearranged land
owning class.

Even benign efforts at redressing the inequalities between the landless and the landed, by singling
out and benefiting "landless groups" to the exclusion of "others," usually achieve little more than
defining and reinforcing new divisions in society - creating government of development
"brahmins" and actually increasing conflict at the village level.

The SSVE project, if successful, could provide an alternative to the land reform and "landless
group" models for distributing wealth among the poor. The SSVE concept is to: a) value "labor
and the availability of labor" as a surrogate capital asset capable of increasing the total stock of
capital; and b) recognize the inherent synergy of the harmonious union of land and labor assets.
The stock corporation is a mechanism which enables this "harmonious union of land and labor,"
with both parties, having invested their respective land or labor assets, then retaining a common
"stock" of value - corporate shares. Landed and landless thus become "business equals" -
partners working for a common good, rather than antagonists seeking to leverage some advantage
from the other party. They can work to "build a larger pie together, rather than fighting each
other for a larger slice of the existing pie." The SSVE project takes the view that the landed, as
an identifiable group, are the best educated, the most adept at business and storehouse of the
largest pool of entrepreneurial talent among all rural villagers. Tapping that talent and seducing
their enthusiastic assistance is an important project objective.

This concept also breaks with the tradition of landed people exploiting the landless. Within an
SSVE context the landed have more earning power working with landless partners than they
could by exploiting them. Productivity levels are substantially higher when laborers are well paid,
highly motivated, and working for their own "business" - as opposed to laboring reluctantly under
an exploitive feudal regime.

Several questions are raised regarding the ability of this model to succeed. Even within the
project there exists an internal debate as to what "level" of landedness should disqualify
participation. There is a concern that people with large holdings - over 10 ha. in a village setting,
- will take over and somehow limit the participation of the landless by leveraging their more
powerful and privileged position with the community (Skillicorn, 1993). This "inefficient" result
is, in part, mitigated by the strong involvement of the external "modern" partner - in this case
PRISM.

Access to land and property in Bangladesh comes primarily through the Law of Inheritance.
Under the Muslim Law of Inheritance women are limited in their ability to inherit land or
property. The Koran establishes that the wife of a deceased husband is to receive one-eighth of
his property and daughters inherit half of the share of their brothers (Hijab, 1988; Quddus, 1985).
In Bangladesh, however, despite having legitimate legal rights to the property inheritance, women
rarely claim this right - or receive the property should to do so (Quddus, 1985). This effectively
limits land ownership by women to the upper classes, and ensures that women, in Bangladesh,
occupy the bottom of the poverty spectrum.

External employment opportunities for rural women are extremely limited in Islamic Bangladesh
where exposure of women is generally frowned upon. SSV Enterprises, by creating select jobs
for Lemnaceae farming, fish culture, post processing and marketing will provide employment
opportunities for both professional and working class women close to their homes. The SSVE is
actively recruiting women to work as coordinators and managers in addition to incorporating a
target of 50% female SSVE shareholders.

Under the SSVE network women accumulate assets in the form of stocks in their respective
village corporations. This introduces a new form of asset accumulation which has not yet been
encountered in traditional rural Bangladeshi society. Women are able to inherit and pass down
shares to their daughters if they so desire. Several questions are raised as to the effect women's
participation in the SSVE project has on women's empowerment, economic condition, social
status, the family structure, domestic conflict, inheritance patterns, and patriarchal family patterns.

Several of the incentive systems introduced by the SSVE project are new to rural development
projects. The use of rising slope performance based payment, lotteries, shareholdings and
coordinator/supervisors' commission are all new concepts aimed at raising and maintaining high
levels of productivity among project workers and SSVE shareholders. The basic question raised
is to what extent these incentives and modes of payment are effective in motivating participants to
maintain acceptably high levels of productivity.

The SSVE model mobilizes landed, marginal and landless farmers through a modern shareholding
corporate structure in order to form a competitive highly productive rural business. This structure
enables the use of modern management techniques and opens up access to capital and technology
normally not available to rural farmers. A major innovation of this approach is that it enables
"external capital, technology and entrepreneurial talent" to work in partnership with rural villagers
- for mutual benefit.

Hitherto, three seriously flawed models of rural development have been dominant:

The Plantation Model, where external capital and management have "taken over," exploiting
inexpensive local land and labor resources to maximize their own profits.

The Benevolent NGO Model where jaded ("The glass is always half empty"), highly paid
external "specialists"prescribe and apply low-level subsidies to activities in which they have a)
little belief and b) no stake;

The Five Year Plan State Intervention Model, where underpaid and essentially unmotivated
government workers go through the motions to implement plans either prescribed, or greatly
influenced, by the World Bank - using resources that were a) inadequate when planned, and b) are
largely depleted in transit.

The SSVE model makes claim to add a fourth.

The SSVE Model, where villagers and "external capital and entrepreneurship" combine their
respective comparative advantage through franchised stock corporations to maximize mutual self-interest.

It should be noted that there is no presumption, within the SSVE model, that the external interest
will withdraw from the village. As with any long term corporate investment, the intention is to
continue growing with respect to both geography and business domain.

The concept of work teams performing agricultural tasks is not, in itself, a new concept in rural
development. However, the high degree of autonomy practiced by the SSVE work groups is not
common for normal agricultural wage laborers. Each village unit assigns work tasks, rotations
and schedules to work teams. They are also responsible for holding weekly and bi-weekly
planning and decision making meetings, and enforcing attendance. The teams then assume
internal responsibility for deployment of team members.

This work team structure is aimed at empowering workers and giving them more input into the
enterprise's productive processes. Nevertheless, many questions need to be answered as to the
true efficiency and effectiveness of this work team approach.

Identifying project stakeholders is an essential initial step when conducting a project evaluation.
Stakeholders may be defined as people or organizations who are involved with the project, who
derive some income from the project, whose future status or career might be effected by the
quality of the project, or who are investors, clients, or recipients of project services (Bryke, 1983;
Posavac and Carey, 1992). The SSVE project evaluation has a number of identifiable
stakeholders, in addition to several potential stakeholders. The following are SSVE project
stakeholders:

Funding Agencies The principal sponsors of the SSVE project are Catholic Relief Services
(CRS) and the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF). As agencies providing
financing to the project these institutions are interested in receiving regular information on the
progress of the project, the level of local support and acceptance, and indicators of future
performance. Also, as institutions that seek to promote WID activities, the participation of
women in the project is of particular interest to these agencies.

PRISM As the executing agency of the SSVE project PRISM has a strong interest in monitoring
the progress of the project. An evaluation will provide valuable information which PRISM may
utilize for planning, developing management strategies, early problem detection and attracting
further grants and private investment. PRISM seeks the incorporation of women as 50%
shareholders in the future, therefor information on women's role in the project may prove useful in
implementing actions to achieve this objective.

SS Center Management The SS management team is largely responsible for the actual
implementation of the SSVE project. This groups is interested in obtaining information useful for
planning, early problem detection, training, and improving project performance.

The SSVE project seeks to continually incorporate new villages into the franchise. Information
obtained through an evaluation will not only be used to improve existing center services and
corporation performance, but also in implementing new aspects of the project. Information on
women's participation in particular may assist the center in better reaching this target group.

SSVE Coordinators SSVE coordinators have a strong vested interest in a SSVE project
evaluation as they are largely responsible for the success of the corporations they serve. As
individuals, their livelihood depends directly upon the performance of the village corporations
they supervise. An evaluation will focus heavily on the coordinator as the intermediary between
the SSC and the village corporations. Information obtained through an evaluation will provide
insights for improving SSC support services, coordinator performance, women's participation and
needs, and village corporation productivity - all of which translate into potentially increased
earnings for coordinators.

SSVE Corporations SSV corporation members are the primary beneficiaries of the SSVE
project. As shareholders who have committed labor and land to the corporation they have a
strong vested interest in the project. An evaluation could provide them with information on their
unit's performance in comparison to other corporations, as well as provide them with insights for
improving productivity, corporate village level management and organization.

In addition to the stakeholders mentioned above, there exist groups that are potential
stakeholders. An evaluation will shed light onto what degree these groups actually are
stakeholders and have an interest in participating in the project. They include the following:

Immediately Neighboring Households Within a village, the majority of households are not
participants in the SSVE. This creates a circumstance where 20 or more members of the
neighborhood suddenly achieve a significantly higher standard of living. It is possible that these
neighboring groups are also stakeholders as they may have strong negative or positive feelings
towards the SSVE project and its members - or have a desire to participate. An evaluation will
identify whether these groups are stakeholders, measure interest in participation, assess outside
impressions of the project and detect any potential conflicts.

Neighboring Communities In addition to neighbors within a village, surrounding villages with
no SSVE corporation must also be considered as possible stakeholders. These communities have
contact with their neighboring SS villages and are influenced by the introduction of SSVE
products into the local economy. It is also possible that these neighboring villages have an
interest in future participation and have impressions of the SSVE project and its participants.

Land Lessors It is important to note that not all the land used by corporations is contributed by
SSVE members. In certain cases the corporations have elected to rent land on long term leases
(or licenses) from land owners in their villages. Beyond receipt of the monthly lease or rental fee,
this group does not benefit from direct participation in the corporation. It should be noted that
lease prices reflect the "pre-SSVE" low productivity of land, and will increasingly come to be
seen as "too low" by lessors as SSVE profitability becomes apparent to them.

To document and describe the SSVE model, with a particular focus on women's role and
participation in the project.

To determine the effects participation in the SSVE project has had on the economic condition of
female members. This involves determining whether participation in the project as improved the
quality of life of female members in terms of basic needs such as food, shelter, clothing, children's
education and nutrition.

To evaluate the effects participation in the SSVE project has had on female participants social
status within the family and community. This involves measuring women's decision-making
power, family and community attitudes towards women's participation, and the perceptions of the
women themselves.

To determine the effects participation in the project has on female members households in terms
of family income, the sexual division of labor and family relations.

To examine the effects participation in the project has had on female member's reproductive
responsibilities and time management.

To evaluate the effect women's participation has had on project productivity, unit performance,
communications and relations.

To provide feedback to the SSVE project so that this information may be used by decision-makers and the unit's themselves to detect problems early on, implement corrective action or
utilize information in future expansion.

Given the fact that this thesis is a project evaluation it has a practical use for a variety of
stakeholders. It is important to identify these interests and take them into consideration when
developing the evaluation. While the limited scope of this thesis cannot fulfill all objectives for all
stakeholders, an evaluation should take into account project information needs. Also an
awareness of these objectives and potential benefits can help shed light upon interests which may
influence or bias the evaluation.

The SSVE project has various objectives and benefits according to the perspective of the
stakeholder. Several of these objectives and benefits are shared by various stakeholder groups,
however for the sake of this review they will be presented according to stakeholder group.

Receive feedback on overall progress of the SSVE project with emphasis on women's
participation, and with respect to their own performance as coordinators and their SSV unit
performance in comparison to the other corporations.

Obtain insights into the level of local acceptance and support for the SSVE project in general with
particular emphasis on their own village corporations and neighboring communities.

Obtain indicators of future project performance, particularly within the villages they serve, and
prospects for continued expansion in neighboring communities.

Monitor the degree to which the five "innovative concepts" mentioned earlier have been
implemented and assess their preliminary results in their specific villages.

Obtain information useful in operations planning, management and strategic decision-making at
the corporate village level for the near- and mid-term.

This project evaluation differs from many others in that the project will be at various stages of
implementation when the evaluation is conducted. While the SSC will have been fully operational
for over a year, village corporations will be in various stages of implementation. Also, women's
participation, a principal interest of this evaluation, is currently only at 15%. Therefore, the
evaluation will focus not only on preliminary project outcomes but also project structures,
processes and attitudes.

For the purposes of this evaluation,project structures refer to organizational functional structures
and support service structures. These are relatively stable characteristics of the SSC and SSVE
corporations, the tools and resources at their disposal, and the physical and organizational
structures which they have formed and work within. Some examples of structure include village-level corporate organization and SSC management characteristics. An analysis of structures will
vital to documenting and describing the SSVE model.

Process can be defined as the set of ongoing activities occurring between staff, managers,
coordinators, village enterprise members and the community as a whole. These activities are
usually manifest as services and everyday operations. Typical examples of processes in the SSVE
project include service delivery logistics, training practices, and unit relation. An analysis of
process will be important in describing SSVE operations and relations.

Outcome can be defined as the changes in the beneficiaries and communities that can be attributed
to the projects activities. This can also be interpreted as project impact. Examples of outcome in
the SSVE project include changes in beneficiary income and changes in local availability of
protein sources. An analysis of outcome will be crucial to determining the effect of project
participation has had on female SSVE members.

In addition to structure, process and outcomes, the evaluation will focus heavily on attitude
assessment. Attitudes towards women's participation will be measured in the project, the
community and participant's families

The list which follows describes some general questions the SSVE evaluations seek to answer.
They involve all aspects mentioned earlier: structure, process, outcome and attitudes.

Does the project match the values of the stakeholders?

Does the project match the needs of the people being served?

Does the project as it is implemented currently function? Does it meet planned and stated
objectives?

Do the preliminary project outcomes match goals? Are there any unexpected outcomes?

How has participation in the project affected women's economic well being and social status? Are women empowered through participation in the project? Have women suffered from a loss of status due to their participation? Has participation in the project created a double burden for women?

Has women's participation in the project effected the households division of labor? Who is taking up the slack with reproductive activities? Has the family powered structure been altered by women's participation in the project? Are there domestic conflicts as a result of women's participation? Do women have greater control over household income now that they contribute with their SSVE
earnings? Do women control these earning?

How are women participating in the corporate structure? To what degree do women have input into the corporate structure? To what degree are women involved in planning and decision making? To what degree is women's participation affected by outside factors such as reproductive
responsibilities and family obligations?

How satisfied are female members with their level of participation? How comfortable are female members working with males? How satisfied are female members with their income earnings through the project?

Is female productivity up to unit standards? Are women more effective workers than men - or is the opposite true? Does a lack of previous agricultural experience affect women's work performance? If women are deficient in some areas of performance what are the causes? If necessary, how may the SSVE project assist women in improving their levels of productivity or
work performance?

What are the attitudes of family members towards women's participation in the project? What are the attitudes of outside community members towards women's participation in the
project? How do male share holders feel about women's participation? What are the attitudes of SSVE staff members towards female participants?

How are landed and landless people working together in village corporations? What is the social dynamic between these two groups? What level of input do each of these groups have in decision making? To what degree are these groups satisfied with their participation in the SSVE project? Are they achieving their expected outcomes? What have been the social consequences of landed and landless working on a mutual venture?Has participation affected their economic well-being and social status?

Are incentives successful in motivating workers to achieve and maintain high levels of
productivity?Are incentives now in place appropriate and sufficient? Which incentives are most powerful? Are the payment and shareholding system considered fair and beneficial? Are people satisfied with the incentive systems?

How are the village level corporations organized? How do they function? Are they efficient in their operations? How is this corporate structure fit into rural Bangladeshi culture? To what extent do participants understand and accept the corporate concept? How does the corporation relate to the SSC, the coordinator, immediate neighbors within the
village and nearby communities? How do corporations compare to one another in terms of productivity?

What is the level of quality of SSC service delivery? Where can the SSC improve service delivery? What are coordinator, share holder and neighboring community perceptions of the SSC and their
service delivery performance? In what areas can the SSC offer further training or improve existing training programs?

How do coordinators organize their work? What is the level of quality of coordinator performance? Are coordinator incentives sufficient and successful? What is the relationship between coordinators, the SSC and villagers? What are corporation members perceptions of coordinator service delivery? Where can the coordinators improve service delivery? What further support do they need from the SSC? Can coordinators handle more SSV units, or should they cut back the scope of their work?

Do immediate neighbors and people from neighboring villages know about the SSVE project?What attitudes and impressions do non-participants in SS villages and neighboring villages have
towards the project? Is there sufficient interest on the part of these groups to justify expansion of the SSVE project?

The proposed thesis seeks to describe and evaluate the SSVE model, focusing primarily on
women's role in the project. It will concentrate on examining the effects participation has had on
female members with respect to their economic condition, social status, and family/household
relations. It will also explore the effects women have had on the project with respect to
productivity, profitability and intra- and extra-unit relations.

The thesis will be carried out primarily as a project evaluation. In addition to the review of
internal Shobuj Shona data and documentation, and interviews with SS personnel and
management, four methods will be utilized in the evaluation. They includes surveys, technical
knowledge assessment checklists, time use studies and case studies.

Technical knowledge assessments will be employed to observe the technical ability, with respect
to Lemnaceae-based aquaculture, of 20 (10 male and 10 female) randomly selected SSVE
participants - 4 from each of the 5 existing SSVE village corporations.

Time use studies will be conducted on 8 randomly selected women, 4 SSVE project participants
and 4 non-participants. Case studies of women's lives will be developed based on selected time
use studies and supplemental interviews.

Data obtained through the evaluation will be

screened visually for physical transcription errors - with corrections made immediately at the
source as appropriate;

entered into a Paradox database using range-checked double-entry input,

subjected to statistical analysis using the SPSS statistical program for microcomputers:

graphical description

simple descriptive statistics

univariate statistical analysis

multivariate statistical analysis

Selected statistical results will be presented, as appropriate, in the final thesis paper. All data and
analytical results will be presented to PRISM, Bangladesh, and, upon PRISM's approval, to
project sponsors (UNCDF and foundations). PRISM will also be presented with a copy of the
final thesis, upon its acceptance by the UCD faculty.

The four different methodologies to be applied in the evaluation enable both both quantitative
and qualitative investigation. The principal quantitative measure to be utilized in this evaluation is
a survey. A separate specific survey questionnaire form will be designed for each distinct group
targeted by the evaluation. These seven questionnaires will be prepared for the following target
groups: 1) SSVE female shareholders, 2) SSVE male shareholder, 3) SSVE coordinators, 4)
spouses of SSVE female shareholders, 5) children of SSVE shareholders, 6) non-SSVE females
from neighboring para households, and 7) non-SSVE females from non-SSVE communities.

Another quantitative methodology will include a technical knowledge assessment of SSVE
shareholders. This will involve field level duckweed farming performance observation of SSVE
shareholders, using a standardized technical checklist. The checklist will evaluate all key
performance indicators considered by duckweed production experts to be required elements of
"good duckweed and duckweed-fish aquaculture" practice.

The third methodology, also quantitative in nature, is a time use study of women's activities.
Women from outside and within the project will be randomly selected and approached to
participate in this portion of the study. Respondents will be accompanied by an observer for
several days, documenting all of their activities. The observer will record data utilizing a
standardized list of activities normally performed by rural Bangladeshi females.

The fourth methodology is qualitative in nature. Case studies will be developed from data
collected from the more open and amenable time use study respondents. Information obtained
through the time use studies will be supplemented by conversations and informal interviews to
construct an accurate and detailed picture of the women's lives.

The use of both quantitative and qualitative methods enables collection of a wide variety of
different types of information. In addition, comparison of information obtained through different
methods provides a useful control for biases and error.

The following section briefly explains the process of developing and applying the technical
knowledge assessment, the time use study and the case studies. The remainder of the proposal
will then focus on a description of the survey methodology as it demands the highest degree of
preparation, personnel and resources.

The technical knowledge assessment checklist will be designed by a scientist, expert in duckweed,
to facilitate the observation and documentation of shareholder technical knowledge and ability.
The checklist will measure shareholder technical knowledge, efficiency and productive ability.
Both male and female shareholders will be observed to enable a comparison by gender.

A duckweed technical expert from the project, who does not function as a coordinator, will be
asked to assist in establishing standardized "norms" reflecting "good practice" in
duckweed/duckweed-fish aquaculture. These norms must, by necessity, draw heavily on the
formal PRISM duckweed/duckweed-fish aquaculture training manual and curriculum, because
workers cannot be held to a higher standard than that which they were taught. These norms, or
prescribed farming protocols, will be organized into a technical check list with a lickert-type scale
to allow the observer to assign degrees of accuracy and intensity to his observations. The
observer must also be a duckweed technical expert and, depending on the availability of
personnel, may possibly be the same person involved in developing the form.

The forms will be designed to permit the observation of one shareholder working in the field for
an entire work day. The observer will attempt to be as unobtrusive as possible in his observations
and be discrete as to the object of his attention (from among a common work team). If expert
personnel are available, it is possible that two observers will be assigned to observe the same
person at the same time, but without exchanging notes on their observations. (See footnote 10)
This will then allow a check for any significant statistical observer differences. Checking the
data for observer bias is important given the subjective nature of observation. Also, the technical
nature of the observation requires experts in duckweed which can only be found locally within the
SSVE project itself. By using internal observers the possibility must be considered to be high.

[Footnote 10: This will, of course, be a requirement for field testing the instrument, in order to
determine its internal and external validity.]

The checklist will be pilot tested in the field before final application. Five shareholders, two male
and three female, will be randomly selected from 3 of the 5 villages for pilot testing. The two
observers will observe one person each day, for three days. Given the requirement that pilot
study shareholders will be withdrawn from the final sample, only one female will be pilot tested as
there are only 15 in.

After pilot testing, any necessary adjustments will be made to refine the final checklist. Four
shareholders, two males and two females, will be randomly selected from each of the five villages.
As mentioned earlier, shareholders involved in the pilot test will be excluded. Two duckweed
technical experts/observers will spend once entire work day each shareholder, observing them in
a discrete manner while using the technical knowledge assessment checklist to evaluate their
performance of specific agricultural tasks. Since each worker is normally assigned a particular
task for the day, one observation will not cover all of the tasks included in the technical checklist.
However, with a random sample, there should be a cross section of all agricultural tasks
represented in the sample. If there is a sexual division of labor of agricultural tasks in the fields,
the technical checklist will reflect this situation. However, since both males and females are
covered in the sample, this should not effect the agricultural tasks observed.

Data will be collected on the sample of 20 SSVE shareholders (10 males, 10 females) in the 5
project villages over the course of 1 month. Although the observers will attempt to be discrete in
their observations, the SSVE members will be informed that an evaluation for a thesis is taking
place. SSVE shareholders will be informed of the evaluation objectives and assured that the
evaluation is not on an individual basis so they do not need to fear personal reprisal. Although
specific individuals will be selected for observation, their names will not be recorded as the
objective is not to evaluate individuals but rather units, and males and females as a group.
Nevertheless, the shareholders will be aware of the evaluation and the presence of observers. It is
necessary, therefore, to point out that the data collected will be considered indicative of
maximum (not average) performance, on the assumption that shareholders will try their best when
being observed. As this portion of the evaluation seeks to measure technical knowledge and
ability, obtaining information concerning maximum performance is appropriate to the
requirements of the evaluation.

After the data is collected, the checklists will be entered into a database for subsequent statistical
analysis. The forms of both observers will be compared for any statistical difference in the
observations to check for observer bias.

Personnel requirements for this portion of the evaluation will be two duckweed experts for 1.5
months. These experts will spend 2 weeks developing and testing technical checklists and 1
month recording observations. Data entry will be performed by experienced tabulators and use
standard double entry data protocols established specifically for the project.

The time use studies will involve direct observation utilizing a standardized checklist of activities
normally performed by rural Bangladeshi women. Women SSVE shareholders and non-SSVE
women will be observed in order to compare their daily activities and time usage. This
information is important in establishing whether SSVE female participants are taking on a double
burden by participating in the project and how their time usage compares to female non-participants. This data is important in assessing the effects of the project on women's lives, for
refining SSVE policies and planning future project implementations.

A female Bangladeshi social scientist, preferably a graduate student from Dhaka University, will
be hired to assist in the development of the time use studies checklist and data collection. A draft
form will be developed using the assistance of SSC project management and staff, and informal
interviews with local non-SSVE women. Final forms will include precoded activities in a
standardized format requiring only a check for every 15 minute interval.

Forms will be pilot tested. One female SSVE shareholder and one non-SSVE female from the
neighboring para will be randomly selected for pre-testing. Due to time limitations, each woman
will be observed for 3 consecutive days to pre-test the checklist. Any necessary adjustment will
be made to the forms based on the pilot test results. Women participants in the pilot test will be
excluded from the final sample.

The time use study will involve continuous direct observation, with the social scientist
accompanying women subjects throughout the entire course of a day, documenting her activities
and time usage. Following people around is clearly intrusive and will require a great deal of
patience and cooperation on the part of both subject and observer. There is a strong possibility of
observer-induced bias. Ruth Dixon-Mueller suggests that to control for this possibility, the first
day or two of observation may be dropped, on the assumption that people quickly become
accustomed to outsiders in their midst (Dixon-Mueller, 1985).

The advantages of using a direct observation method are numerous. First, observing time usage is
generally more accurate then asking about time usage. Respondents are often unaware of time on
the clock and have problems recalling and estimating time usage. This leads to difficulty in
assessing time when activities are performed simultaneously. (Dixon-Mueller, 1985; Dixon-Mueller and Anker, 1988). The proposed direct observation method also allows the observer to
record joint and simultaneous activities - as is common with reproductive work. It also allows the
opportunity to note both the nature and extent of social interaction. Finally, during slow periods
the observer can alternate unobtrusive observation from a distance with conversations that
provide further insights (Peluso, 1975; Dixon-Mueller, 1985). This method will allow the
observer to later build case studies around women who were particularly open to sharing detailed
experiences about their lives.

To document the routines of female traders in rural Java, Peluso (Peluso, 1979; Dixon-Mueller,
1975) accompanied 8 women for 5 consecutive days each. Observation began hour after rising
(between 4 and 6 a.m.) until evening (9 or 10). Peluso noted that after the first day or two the
women ignored the extra attention and carried out their routines as they normally would (Peluso,
1975; Dixon-Mueller, 1985).

This pattern of 5 days of consecutive observation will be followed. The first day or two will be
dropped from analysis as suggested by Dixon-Mueller in order to control for behavioral changes
due to observer presence (Dixon-Mueller, 1985). A total of 8 randomly selected women will be
observed, 4 SSVE female participants and 4 non-SSVE women from neighboring para.

One bilingual female social scientist will be required to conduct the time use study. She will be
recruited from the anthropology or sociology departments of the Dhaka University. Strong
preference will be given to persons having direct rural development experience. The study will
require approximately 12 weeks to complete. Two weeks will be spent developing checklist
drafts, 1 week on pilot testing, 1 week on revisions and 8 weeks on observation. Forms will then
be entered into a data base by tabulators for later statistical analysis.

Case studies can provide valuable insights into women's daily lives. The case study methodology
offers the opportunity to document information and experiences often not captured through
surveys another quantitative methods.

The considerable time invested in the time use study will provide the social scientist with the
opportunity to become familiar with some female subjects. Women who appear particularly open
to sharing their experiences will be encouraged to discuss their lives during slow periods of during
additional interview. Specific candidates for case studies will not be preselected as not all people
are willing to discuss their life experiences with a stranger. The selection of case studies subjects
will, therefore, be made at the discretion of the social scientist based upon her rapport with the
respondents. Ideally, case studies should be developed for women both within and outside the
SSVE project.

The case studies will provide a qualitative method that can may be compared to the results
obtained through the other quantitative methods. There is strong agreement in the social science
literature that the best approach to evaluation is to mix qualitative and quantitative methods
(Campbell, 1987; Cook and Reichardt, 1979; Maxwell, 1985; Rossman and Wilson, 1985;
Silverman, Ricci and Gunter, 1990; Posavac and Carey, 1992).

Question formulation for the final evaluation measures involves a series of iterative steps. It is
important that stakeholders are involved in the question formulation process in order to ensure
that questions are valid, relevant and consistent with the "reality" of the project. The questions
presented earlier were merely a sketch of general questions the evaluation may attempt to answer.

The first step in question formulation will be to interview key stakeholders - specifically PRISM
management, SSC management and staff. It is important that through these interviews the
evaluators obtain a clear vision of what expectations these groups have, the information they
desire, how this information will be utilized, and whether they have plans for operationalizing
results.

Based on these inputs, questionnaire drafts will be developed. (See footnote 11) These drafts will
then be presented to key project staff and management for their feedback and commentary. After
making any necessary revisions based on feedback, the instruments will be pilot tested for content,
format, comprehension, and interviewer protocols.

A small, representative sample for each target group will be randomly selected for pilot testing
instruments. Given the small number of coordinators, their evaluation instruments will not be
tested on actual coordinators but rather SSVE staff. Small numbers for the pilot testing are
necessary since individuals who participated in the pilot testing must be excluded from the final
sample. In addition PRISM, SSC management and staff will be asked to assess the instruments as
part of the pilot. On one level the pilot surveys will seek opinions and information concerning
survey content, format clarity, and validity. On the other hand the pilot will seek to simulate the
real evaluation conditions and develop a series of protocols which interviewers will follow. The
approximate numbers of the pilot testing are as follows:

Coordinator Survey Applied to SSC Staff 3

Male SSVE Survey 3

Female SSVE Survey 2

Spouse of SSVE Female 2

Child of SSVE Female 2

Neighboring Para Household (Non-SSVE) 2

Non-SSVE Neighboring Village Household 2

After obtaining feedback through pilot testing survey will be revised and refined. Final
instruments will be presented to key PRISM and SSC management for final comments along with
a detailed interviewer training agenda and interviewer survey protocols.

The SSVE project evaluation will employ seven distinct survey instruments. All instruments will
be administered by trained surveyors who will use the questionnaires to guide their interviews.
The surveys will be administered orally to: a) overcome the problem of illiteracy, and to b)
provide subjects with the opportunity to request further clarification from the surveyor when
necessary.

Each of the seven instruments will have a specific target group. These include: SSVE
coordinators, male SSVE shareholders, female SSVE shareholders, spouses of female SSVE
shareholders, children of female SSVE shareholders, females of neighboring para households
(non-SSVE), and females of non-SSVE village households.

The first instrument will be exclusively for coordinators who have been actively serving a SSVE
for at least 6 months. As they represent arguably the most important identifiable group within the
SSVE system, it is crucial that coordinators be given the opportunity to make significant input
into the evaluation. Since SSVE expansion is ongoing, new coordinators are continually being
trained and assigned to village corporations. It is for this reason that only coordinators who have
served fully operational corporation for at least six months will be included in the evaluation.
Coordinators who have worked less time with village corporations may not have sufficient
experience to answer the evaluation questions.

The SSVE instrument geared at male SSVE shareholders will be applied to a 100% sample of all
SSVE shareholders from all 5 villages. Although the primary focus of this evaluation is on
women, male perspectives provide important insights into the attitudes towards female
participation, the effects of the project on women and the effects of women's participation on the
project. Also, surveying men provides a group against which to compare female performance and
attitudes. As principal beneficiaries, it is vital that both men and women members of this group be
included in the evaluation. The male and female instruments have been made distinct on the
assumption that a) their experiences prior to beginning participation in the project have been very
different and b) their roles within the enterprise may also differ. Also, this permits the
introduction of gender specific questions.

Female SSVE shareholder surveys are necessary to obtain women participants' views, attitudes
and opinions. They will provide insights into the effects of the project on women's lives and their
role in the project. Both the male and female surveys will help paint an accurate overall picture of
project operations and its effects on its target populations.

In the event that new units have been implemented, only the shareholders with at least six months
in the project will be surveyed. The six month requirement is also to ensure that the shareholders
have had sufficient experience in the corporate venture to provide meaningful responses.

A fourth instrument will focus on the spouses of female SSVE participants. This group is
important to survey as spouses will offer insights into family attitudes towards female
participation. Also, spouses will provide information on the effects of participation on the family's
economic condition, internal relations, the household division of labor and decision-making
authority within the household.

A fifth instrument will be oriented at children of female SSVE participants. Children, as with
spouses, can offer unique insights into family attitudes towards female participation on family
home life and attitudes towards female participation. Children's perspectives are invaluable as
they often offer even more uninhibited and outward answers to questions the adults. While great
care will be exercised when dealing with sensitive subjects, such as family conflicts or domestic
relations, children are expected to provide more frank insights into the home environment.

The sixth instrument will concentrate on females of neighboring para households in SSVE villages
who are non-participants. Households will randomly selected from paras neighboring SSVE
villages that have functioned for at least 6 months. This group is important as it will: a) provide
valuable information concerning external impressions of the project and its participants, and b)
monitor future interest in participation. Under the assumption that most Bangladeshi villages
share a similar socio-economic profile, this group will serve as a comparison group for many of
the indicators included in the female SSVE shareholders survey. This also provides a rationale for
interviewing females from these households as opposed to males. It is relatively safe to assume
that females, as a group, are similar with respect to socio-economic status, to the SSVE female
shareholders before they participated in the project. Again, those few villagers owning more
than 10 ha. will be excluded from this survey in order to ensure sample uniformity and
comparability.

The seventh instrument will measure a sample of females from households in non-SSVE
communities neighboring SS villages which have operated for at least 6 months. This group will
provide insight into the real dimensions of the project's influence outside the project. As the
neighboring para survey, this group will serve as a control group for certain indicators on the
female SSVE shareholder measure. Also, this group will serve as a comparison for neighboring
para households who are not direct SSVE participants but may, nevertheless may be affected by
the presence of the project in their village.

Each of these instruments will include a set of indicators designed to describe service as well as
productive activities, the structural and organizational context for these activities, outcomes and
attitudes. Many of the indicators will be categorized as either "descriptive indicators" or
"experimental indicators."

For the purposes of this evaluation descriptive indicators are defined as indicators whose
questions do not have an equivalent comparison or control group. They serve descriptive
purposes, but they will not be compared, in analysis, to a control group. This is due to the fact
that the comparison to a control group would be inappropriate for certain indicators and/or
questions. For example, indicators involving coordinator assessment of SSVE performance do
not have a comparison group since the sample for coordinators is 100% and there is no
comparable group to serve as a control group outside or within the program.

Experimental indicators, for the purposes of this evaluation, do contain some questions that have
an equivalent control group permitting comparison between the test group (female SSVE
shareholders) and other (control) groups possessing similar characteristics - namely the females
of neighboring para households (non-SSVE participants), and females of non-SSVE neighboring
villages households. For example, income trends is an indicator which can be compared between
the female SSVE beneficiaries, females of neighboring para households (non-SSVE participants),
and the females of non-SSVE neighboring village households of a similar socioeconomic class. It
is possible, nevertheless, that some of the questions included under certain experimental
indicators will be descriptive in nature and will not be presented in control group instruments.

The following is a brief discussion of some of the most important indicators, categorized as
descriptive or experimental, which possibly will be included in the measures. In addition, for each
indicator at least one sample question is presented.

1. Shobuj Shona Center service delivery and performance refers to the quality of SSC services.
This indicator will focus specifically on services offered to SSV units and support services for
coordinators. These services include credit, technical assistance, supplies, information,
management and training. This indicator will be included on both the coordinator instrument and
the SSVE shareholder instrument, and will concentrate heavily on their perceptions of SSC
service delivery. A sample question may be as follows:

example #1. How satisfied are you the following aspects of the SSC credit service?

VERY UNSATISFIED

QUITE UNSATISFIED

SOMEWHAT SATISFIED

QUITE SATISFIED

VERY SATISFIED

a. Loan amount?

1

2

3

4

5

b. Interest rate?

1

2

3

4

5

c. Timeliness of installments?

1

2

3

4

5

d. Payback terms?

1

2

3

4

5

e. Savings prerequisite?

1

2

3

4

5

f. Financial guidance?

1

2

3

4

5

(SSVE SHAREHOLDER INSTRUMENT)

2. Coordinator Performance refers to the quality of coordinators' work and the factors
which affect their ability to perform. This includes issues such as the relationship between the
SSC and coordinators, the level of training received by coordinators, and the clarity with which
their responsibilities have been described. These indicators will examine the relationship between
coordinators and shareholders; the shareholders perceptions of coordinator performance; and
coordinators' assessment of their own work. This indicator will be included in both the
coordinator instrument and the SSVE instrument. Sample questions may include:

example #1. How clearly do you know what level of work performance is expected of you (in terms of amount, quality, and timeliness of output)?

VERY UNCLEAR

QUITE UNCLEAR

SOMEWHAT CLEAR

QUITE CLEAR

VERY CLEAR

1

2

3

4

5

(COORDINATOR INSTRUMENT)

example #2. During the past 3 months, how often did you receive suggestions or feedback from your coordinator on
your work?

NOT ONCE

ABOUT ONCE A MONTH

ABOUT ONCE A WEEK

ABOUT EVERY DAY OR SO

SEVERAL TIMES A DAY

1

2

3

4

5

(SSVE SHAREHOLDER INSTRUMENT)

3. Possibility of Female Coordinators refers to attitudes towards the incorporation of females
as coordinators on the part of shareholders and coordinators. This indicator examines how people
would feel with women working as their supervisor or co-work and the perception of women's
competence to be coordinators. This indicator also measures whether there is a gender preference
for coordinators on the part of shareholders. This indicator will be included on the male and
female SSVE shareholder instruments and the coordinator instrument.

example #1. How comfortable would you feel working with a female coordinator?

4. Work performance refers to the overall quality, quantity and efficiency of work performed
by SSVE shareholders. This indicator includes such issues as a self-appraisal of work
performance, attitudes towards performance based on gender, sexual division of labour in
fieldwork, and factors effecting shareholders ability to perform. This indicator also attempts to
determine areas where SSVE shareholders or coordinators require more preparation or training.
Many of the questions in this indicator will not only provide descriptive information but also allow
for a comparison between male and female shareholders work performance.

example #1. The following is a listing of specific work tasks performed regularly in your SSVE unit. Indicate the
frequency with which you normally perform these tasks:

5. Women's Work Performance is similar to the work performance indicator however it
focuses on perceptions of female's work performance. This will provide insights into male
attitudes towards working with women as co-workers, female's perceptions of their own work
performance, and coordinators; assessment of women's performance. It also attempts to pin point
any areas where women require any extra preparation or training. This indicator will be included
on the male SSVE shareholder instrument, the female SSVE shareholder instrument and the
coordinator instrument.

example #1. To what extent are the women in your unit able to complete the work expected of them?

6. Job/Corporate Satisfaction refers to a reaction or feeling by the coordinator or corporate
shareholders on how satisfied he/she is with his job, work conditions, SSC supervisor or SSVE
coordinator, co-workers, pay, shareholdings, benefits and current or future career progress and
potential. Questions to measure this indicator will be included in both the survey for coordinators
and for SSVE Shareholders. Sample questions include:

example #1. How satisfied are you with each of the following?

VERY UNSATISFIED

QUITE UNSATISFIED

SOMEWHAT SATISFIED

QUITE SATISFIED

VERY SATISFIED

a. Your job?

1

2

3

4

5

b. Your supervisor?

1

2

3

4

5

c. Your pay?

1

2

3

4

5

d. The career progress you have made in this organization up to now?

1

2

3

4

5

e. Your chances for career advancementin this organization in the near future?

1

2

3

4

5

(COORDINATOR INSTRUMENT)

7. Job Specialization refers to the scope of different tasks performed by coordinators and
SSVE enterprise shareholders. This will provide a breakdown of all of the different tasks performed and the amount of time dedicated to the tasks. The respondents will be asked the following questions (Van de Ven, 1980):

example #1. Describe your work activities by listing the different kinds of tasks and work activities you perform in a
normal work week?

example #2. Indicate the number of hours per week you normally spend performing each of the tasks you just listed?

(COORDINATOR INSTRUMENT and SSVE SHAREHOLDER INSTRUMENT)

8. Job authority refers to the amount of input coordinators and shareholders have in making decisions regarding a) what tasks and responsibilities constitute a particular job b) establishing work procedures c) how work problems should be handled d) determine work quotas and standards. This indicator reflects the degree of worker empowerment achieved in the project and also provides insights into the decision making authority of women and landless within the corporation. Some sample questions include:

example #1.How much authority do you have in making each of the following decisions about your work?

AMOUNT OF AUTHORITY I HAVE IN EACH DECISION

NONE

LITTLE

SOME

QUITE A BIT

VERY MUCH

a. Determining what tasks I will perform from day to day?

1

2

3

4

5

b. Setting quotas on how much work I have to complete?

1

2

3

4

5

c. Establishing rules and procedures about how my work is to be done?

1

2

3

4

5

d. Determining how work exceptions are to be handled?

1

2

3

4

5

(COORDINATOR INSTRUMENT and SSVE SHAREHOLDER INSTRUMENTS)

example #2. How much say or influence do you think each of the following has over the internal operations of your work unit (e.g.
determining work tasks, setting unit production goals, allocating work among unit members, and reviewing the performance of unit
members)?

9. Job Feedback refers to the degree to which a coordinator and shareholders receive information on
procedures and the results of his/her work effort. Feedback serves as an indicator of job incentives since it
provides the individual or team with information for learning, error detection and expected job standards. This
indicator will appear on both the coordinator instrument and the SSVE shareholder instrument. The following is
a possible sample questions:

example #1. When your work performance was discussed with you, how often did you receive practical suggestions for improving your work?

NEVER

SELDOM

ABOUT HALF THE TIME

OFTEN

EVERY TIME

1

2

3

4

5

10. Communications With Male SSVE Members refers to the frequency and quality of communications
between male and female SSVE members. Issues such ease of communications among male and female shareholders will be included in this indicator. This indicator will appear on male and female instruments in
addition to the coordinator instrument.

example #1. To what degree do you feel comfortable communicating with men in your unit?

VERY UN- COMFORTABLE

UNCOMFORT- ABLE

NEUTRAL

COMFORTABLE

VERY COMFORTABLE

1

2

3

4

5

(FEMALE SSVE SHAREHOLDER)

example #2. To what degree do you actively participate in SSVE meetings by:

11. Unit Standardization refers to the degree to which village corporate units have implemented and formalized rules, standard operating procedures, and performance expectations in order to coordinate, control and monitor unit activities. This indicator will be presented in both the coordinator instrument and the SSVE shareholder instruments.

example #1. Overall, how clearly have specific performance targets been set for your corporate unit?

NO TARGETS WERE SET

TARGETS ARE VERY UNCLEAR

TARGETS ARE SOMEWHAT CLEAR

TARGETS ARE QUITE CLEAR

TARGETS ARE VERY CLEAR

1

2

3

4

5

example #2 How specific or general are the rules, policies and procedures in your unit for coordinating and
controlling work activities?

THERE ARE NO SET RULES, POLICIES OR PROCEDURES

VERY GENERAL

SOMEWHAT SPECIFIC

QUITE SPECIFIC

VERY SPECIFIC

1

2

3

4

5

(COORDINATOR INSTRUMENT and SSVE SHAREHOLDER INSTRUMENTS)

12. Unit Conflict refers to the frequency of disputes or disagreements among SSVE village unit
shareholders, among units and outside neighbors, units and coordinators, and the extent to which these conflicts hinder performance. This indicator will be included in the coordinator instrument, both the male and female SSVE shareholder instruments, the neighbor para household instrument
and the neighboring non-SSVE village household instrument.

example #1. During the past 3 months how often did disagreements or arguments occur:

AMOUNT OF DISAGREEMENTS OR ARGUMENTS THAT OCCURRED

NOT ONCE

ABOUT ONCE A MONTH

ABOUT EVERY 2 WEEKS

ABOUT ONCE A WEEK

SEVERAL TIMES A WEEK

EVERY DAY

a. Between unit members and coordinator?

1

2

3

4

5

6

b. Among unit members?

1

2

3

4

5

6

c. Between people in your unit and land lessors?

1

2

3

4

5

6

d. Between people in yourunit and immediate neighbors?

1

2

3

4

5

6

e. Between people in your unit and members of surrounding villages?

1

2

3

4

5

6

(SSVE MALE SHAREHOLDER INSTRUMENT and FEMALE SHAREHOLDER
INSTRUMENT)

13. Male/Female Conflict concentrates on any conflicts that may exist between SSVE members based on gender. This indicator examines the frequency of conflicts and the manner in which disputes are resolved. It also, looks at the ability of SSVE to offer each other constructive criticism with our conflict. This indicator will appear on both male and female shareholder instruments and the coordinator instrument.

example #1. How frequently are there disagreements or disputes between the male and female
members of your unit?

NEVER

SELDOM

SOMETIMES

OFTEN

VERY OFTEN

1

2

3

4

5

example #2. When disagreements or disputes occur among male and female members of your unit, how frequently
are they resolved in each of the following ways?

N/A

ALMOST NEVER

SELDOM

SOMETIMES

OFTEN

VERY OFTEN

a. By ignoring or avoiding the issues?

0

1

2

3

4

5

b. By smoothing over the issues?

0

1

2

3

4

5

c. By bringing the issues out in the open and working them out among the parties involved?

0

1

2

3

4

5

d. By bringing the issues out in the open in unit meetings?

0

1

2

3

4

5

e. By having the unit coordinator resolve the issues between unit members?

0

1

2

3

4

5

14. Relationship With SSVE Unit Members refers to the working relationship between male
and females SSVE shareholders. Issues such as ease working with the opposite sex, treatment at
work trust in co-workers will be included. This indicator will appear on male and female
shareholder instruments and the coordinator instrument.

example #1. To what extent do you feel comfortable depending upon other women in your work group to achieve assigned tasks and
performance standards?

N/A

VERY UN- COMFORTABLE

UNCOMFORT- ABLE

NEUTRAL

COMFORTABLE

VERY COMFORTABLE

0

1

2

3

4

5

(MALE SSVE SHAREHOLDER INSTRUMENT)

example #2. How would you describe your treatment at work by the following people:

15. Unit Incentives is an indicator which includes a) degree to which incentives have been operational; b) degree to which the work teams pressure members to achieve high or low outputs; and c) degree to which incentives stimulate members to achieve high levels of output. This indicator will be included on both the coordinator and shareholder instruments.

example #1. To what degree do the following incentives motivate your unit to produce higher outputs?

STRENGTH OF INCENTIVE

NONE

LITTLE

SOME

QUITE A BIT

VERY MUCH

a. Daily wage based on productivity

1

2

3

4

5

b. Shareholding returns

1

2

3

4

5

c. Lottery tickets

1

2

3

4

5

d. Feedback

1

2

3

4

5

d. Supervision

1

2

3

4

5

d. Individual bonuses

1

2

3

4

5

d. Work Team bonuses

1

2

3

4

5

d. Unit bonuses

1

2

3

4

5

(COORDINATOR INSTRUMENT and SHAREHOLDER INSTRUMENTS)

16. Incentives for Women SSVE Members is an indicator which analyzes the attitudes towards incentives for female participants. This indicator will also provide insights into attitudes
towards women's participation in the project as equal partners. Questions from this indicator will be included on the male SSVE shareholder instrument, the female SSVE shareholder instrument and the coordinator instrument.

example #1. Do you feel the women in your unit deserve equal returns as the men in your unit
with respect to the following?

17. Perceived Unit Performance refers to the extent to which the corporate unit has achieved its performance targets, self-evaluation of performance and the relative rating of the unit in comparison to other units. This indicator will be included on the coordinator and SSVE shareholder instruments.

example #1. In relation to other SSVE corporations how did your unit rate on each of the following factors during the
past year?

FAR BELOW AVERAGE

SOME- WHAT BELOW AVERAGE

ABOUT AVERAGE

SOME- WHAT ABOVE AVERAGE

FAR ABOVE AVERAGE

a. The quantity or amount of work produced?

1

2

3

4

5

b. The quantity or accuracy of work produced?

1

2

3

4

5

c. The number of innovations or new ideas introduced by the unit?

1

2

3

4

5

d. Reputation for work excellence?

1

2

3

4

5

e. Attainment of unit production goals?

1

2

3

4

5

f. Efficiency of unit operations?

1

2

3

4

5

h. Morale of unit members?

1

2

3

4

5

(COORDINATOR INSTRUMENT and SSVE SHAREHOLDER INSTRUMENTS)

18. Health Problems refers to any possible health problems shareholders or coordinators attribute top their participation in the project. Since the project involves working with waste water, potential health hazards are a source of concern. This indicator will appear on male and female shareholder instruments, coordinator instruments, and neighboring para household instruments.

example #1. Do you attribute any of the following diseases that you may have contracted to your SSVE related
work?

a. Skin problems?

N/A

NO

YES

b. Respiratory problems?

N/A

NO

YES

c. Diarrhea?

N/A

NO

YES

d. Worms?

N/A

NO

YES

e. Eyes/Nose/throat?

N/A

NO

YES

d. Vaginal infections?

N/A

NO

YES

e. Other_________________?

N/A

NO

YES

example #2. Describe your health (i.e.,. sick or well) in comparison to your neighbors who do not work in the
project?

19. Child Care is an indicator which seeks to examine whether participants have difficulties obtaining child care while working. It attempts to determine whether there is a need for the project to provide support in this area and measure the precise demand. This indicator will be present on both the male and female shareholder instruments.

example #1. Is child care a problem for you while you work at your SSVE unit?

N/A

NO

YES

0

1

2

example #2. If the SSVE project provided child care while you work, would you use this service?

N/A

NO

YES

0

1

2

If you answered yes, how many children would you enroll in child care? _____Children

20. Transportation seeks to determine whether spatial distance from work or a lack of transportation are problems for shareholders and coordinators. It also examines the spatial distance from shareholder homes and the work area, an important facto for women in Bangladesh who normally have spatial barriers imposed on them given cultural beliefs. This indicator will be included in both male and female shareholder instruments and the coordinator instrument.

1. Income Trends examines earnings during the past three years through wages, shareholdings, commissions, bonuses, lottery, rentals, sale of crops and inheritance. This indicator will be included on all instruments. Also included in this indicator is the degree of control women have over their earnings and decision making on spending. The immediate neighboring para households and non-SSVE neighboring village households will serve as the control group for the
SSVE shareholders for this particular indicator. This indicator will document income trends and demonstrate whether there has been an impact on the income of project participants - particularly women and landless people.

example #1 Approximately what were your earnings during the last three years?

2. Work Motivation refers to the degree of self-motivation and effort an individual exercises to effectively perform his/her work. This indicator looks at items such as effort put into work, attempts to improve performance, and feelings experienced when a job is done well or poorly. This indicator will allow a comparison of work motivation levels between SSVE participants in comparison to individuals not participating in the project. Also, it will contrast male and female SSVE shareholders work motivation levels. This can provide insights into
whether the SSVE project is truly achieving its goal of providing incentives and motivating people to reach high levels of productivity.

3. Time usage outside of SSVE work looks at women's activities and use of time outside of a project context.
This indicator focuses on female reproductive activities and time spent on such activities. Also the contribution of family member's before and after female participation in the project will also be examined within this
indication. This will serve to assess to what degree women have taken on a double burden or households have restructured their division of labour. This indicator will be included on the females from neighboring para
households and females of neighboring non-SSVE village households instrument in addition to the female SSVE shareholder instruments in order to allow a comparison between the three groups.

example #1.

Your activities and use of time may have changed since you began participating in the SSVE project. In addition to your project related activities, your outside work may vary a great deal week to week. First, indicate during the past 3 months, on average how many hours per week did you normally spend in each of the following activities. Then indicate on average how many hours per week did you normally spend in each of the following activities before working in the SSVE project.

Hours per week I normally
spend on average doing this
in the past 3 months

Hours per week I normally
spent on average doing this
activity before participating
in SSVE project

4. Agricultural knowledge measures the degree of agricultural knowledge and experience the
respondents possess. In the case of shareholders, this indicator seeks to measure to what degree participants feel a lack of agricultural knowledge or experience has effected their ability to achieve performance and productivity standards. This indicator will appear on both male and female
shareholder instruments, coordinator instruments and non-SSVE household instruments.

example #1. How would you rate your level of agricultural knowledge and experience?

5. Social Acceptability of Women's Participation examines attitudes towards women's participation in the project on the part of the women themselves, male SSVE shareholders, coordinators family members, neighboring para households and non-SSVE village households. This indicator provides insight into how participation in the project has effects the social status of female participants within their families and communities. This indicator will appear on all surveys.

example #1. Do you personally feel it is socially acceptable for women to participate in the
SSVE project?

N/A

NO

YES

0

1

2

example #2. In general, how would you describe the attitude of your family members towards your participation in the SSVE project?

6. Landholdings refers to land ownership, the form of ownership, land use and the contribution of land to the project. This indicator will address the issue if whether other crops have been illuminated for duckweed production and if so which crops. This indicator will be important in documenting land owning status, which is important to know in the interpretation of other indicator results and in analyzing the landed/landless relationship and dynamic within the unit.
This indicator will be included on all surveys in order to provide an economic reference as to the respondents condition. For a broader evaluation then the scope of this thesis permits, several other indicators focusing specifically on the landed/landless dynamic could be included. Such indicators could be Land Lessor Information, Landless/Landed Job Authority, Landless/Landed Work Performance, Communications Between Landless and Landed SSVE Members, Landless/Landed Conflict, Incentives for Landless SSVE Members, and Landless/Landed Work Motivation. However, for the scope of this thesis the landholdings indicator will be sufficient.

example #1. Of your personal landholdings, indicate the number of bighas dedicated to each of the following?

Amount

a) Contributed to SSVE project in exchange for shares.

_____Bighas

b) Leased to SSVE for an annual rent (no SSVE shares)

_____Bighas

c) Planted with subsistence crops

_____Bighas

d) Planted with subsistence crops.

_____Bighas

e) Bari

_____Bighas

f) Fish ponds

_____Bighas

g) Derelict ponds

_____Bighas

h) Fallow

_____Bighas

i) Derelict land

_____Bighas

j) Rented to others

_____Bighas

k) Other_________________

_____Bighas

. (Specify)

example #2. If you have contributed or leased land to the SSVE project, how many bighas of the following crops
did you normally grow on that land each year before the project?

The evaluation design contains elements of a quasi-experimental design and a descriptive non-experimental approach. This is in part due to the fact that several indicators do not lend themselves to application in a comparison group and in part to the fact that the project is still in
the early stages of implementation - precluding the establishment of many causal relationships.

The evaluation will utilize random samples of pre-existing project participants in applying the SSVE shareholder measurements. The sampling process is described in more detail below. The group of project participants will serve as the test group for several indicators on various
instruments. The group of randomly selected females of neighboring para household (adjacent to SSVE units) and females of neighboring non-SSVE village households will serve as a comparison group for the female SSVE shareholders in a number of indicators. It is assumed that this group
closely resembles shareholders as they were before entering the project because the basic socio-economic structure of the Bangladeshi villages in the work area is homogenous.

It is important to note that the SSVE shareholder, neighboring para and non-SSVE household surveys will contain indicators that do not allow for comparison, will not establish causal relationships, and will serve only to provide descriptive information. The coordinator and family member instruments are very specific to these groups and it is inappropriate for our purposes to attempt to fit these groups into a quasi-experimental design and form equivalent control groups. Nevertheless, several of the indicators on these instruments will be included on other instruments. They will provide useful comparisons of differing perspectives. They will not, of course, be used to establish causal relationships.

The following is a brief description of the sampling rationale and methods proposed for each instrument:

SSVE Shareholders Two different SSVE shareholder measures will be developed and
applied according to gender. Currently 5 corporations have been fully operational for at least 6
months. The average number of participants in each corporation is 15 individuals, therefore the total population of SSVE shareholders who have participated for at least 6 months 75. Approximately 15 of these shareholders are female and 60 are male. A 100% sample of all SSVE
members will be surveyed. The total sample for SSVE members will be 75 people from 5 villages. Any new units which have functioned for less than 6 months will not be included in the sample as they still too new to evaluate.

Females of Neighboring Para Households The survey of immediate households will use
the criterion of sampling households less then 100 meters from a Shobuj Shona pond. The typical
Bangladeshi village is made up of several paras, or neighborhoods of between 500 and 1500
people. Para can be broken down into baris which are household groupings of extended families.
The surveyor will be provided with a village map which will be marked with a random walk
around the baris surrounding the ponds. The surveyor will interview one randomly selected
household in a bari and move to another randomly selected household in a bari that is two away
from the first selected bari. It is important that these samples be taken from different bari's since
most people in the same bari are immediate relatives.

The surveyor will ask to survey a mature female adult from the household - preferably the
mother. Of the 5 SSVE villages 3 immediate households will be selected using this criterion.
The total sample of immediate households will be 15.

Females of Neighboring Non-SSVE Village Households The sample of neighboring
villages will use the criterion of villages which are no closer than mile or farther than 2 miles
from SSVE production sites. Two randomly selected villages will be chosen from all of the
villages neighboring the SSVE villages regions that match these criteria. In each of the 2 villages,
5 households will be randomly selected in the same manner as described for the neighboring
household survey - a) using a random walk; b) households from different baris; and c) surveying
50% women. The total sample of neighboring non-SSVE village households will be 10.

Spouses of Female SSVE Shareholders The sample of spouses will be 100% sample as
there are only 15 female participants. In the event that a spouse will not cooperate or is
unavailable, that information will be documented. The total population of spouses is 15 (or fewer
if there are single female participants) although the two selected for the pilot study will be
eliminated leaving the total final sample at 13.

Children of Female SSVE Shareholders The sample of children of female participants
will be a random sample taken from all children of female participants that are 9 years older and
above. One child from each family meeting the age criteria will be randomly selected from all
female SSVE participants who have children. The total sample will be at 15 children or less.

SSVE Coordinators The sample of coordinators will be a 100% sample of all 6
coordinators of SSVE corporations which have functioned at least 6 months. Coordinators who
are in training and who are implementing new corporations will not be included in the sample as
they may not possess the experience necessary to answer many of the questions on the
coordinator instrument.

It is important to note that all persons participating in the pilot studies will be removed
from the populations from which the samples are drawn. The only exception is the sample of
coordinators, as they are so few. Pilot testing of the coordinator instrument will not be applied
directly to coordinators but rather other SSC staff and management.

The total sample for the evaluation is 136 distributed in the following manner:

It is important to note that sampling in a developing country carries some limitations.
Villages are often remote, populations are transient, maps are often unavailable and, if so, are
often outdated or inaccurate. (Bulmer, 1983) All of these factors must be considered when
planning the logistics and detailed operations of the evaluation. Much of this information will not
be available until evaluators are working on-site in the country. However, preliminary
information indicates that this basic sampling plan is feasible within the areas of SSVE coverage.
The main town in the project area, Shibaloy, is 2 hours west of Dhaka, Bangladesh's capital city.
It is readily accessible from Dhaka by bus. Three of the 5 SSVE villages surround Shibaloy and
lie a half hour away by rickshaw, bicycle or (slightly more) on foot. Reasonably accurate maps of
the villages are available at Shibaloy's Upazila (local government) headquarters. The maps will
include paras, baris and individual landowners. (Skillicorn -personal communications, 1992)
Although not 100% precise, the maps are updated fairly frequently. Two of the project villages
lie outside Mirzapur, also 2 hours from Dhaka by bus. Both villages are easily accessible from
Mirzapur by bus.

Another consideration is seasonal monsoon rains which inundate the country between July
and October. The actual data collection is scheduled for late August. However, since the area is
easily accessible by either boat or car this probably will not be a major problem although it must
be taken into account. In some respects it is advantageous to survey during this period since most
research is done during the dry season. The argument has been made that most research efforts
avoid the monsoon period, thus ensuring that the poorest people are seen most often when they
are least deprived and least seen when things are at their worst. (Chambers, 1983)

A bilingual Bangladeshi university student will be hired to serve as a translator and
research assistant throughout the evaluation. He will assist in all aspects of the evaluation,
including preliminary meetings and interviews, translating instruments, pilot testing, organizing
logistics, hiring surveyors, training surveyors, and over seeing tabulation. Throughout the
duration of the evaluation close coordination will be maintained with PRISM and SSC
management and staff. The research assistant, along with the social scientist and two technical
experts will be essential in providing insights into local customs and norms and mores.

Six surveyors will be hired for 6 days. Due to the large number of surveys that have been
conducted in Bangladesh it is reasonable to recruit people with previous surveying experience in
Dhaka. Also, people familiar with the Shibaloy area will be given priority in order to facilitate the
surveying process. While interviewer training sessions will take place at the PRISM office in
Dhaka, interviewers will require accommodation in Shibaloy and Mirzapur for the 6-day survey
duration. Data will be collected in 5 days, however 1 extra day will be added for travel between
Mirzapur and Shibaloy.

It is estimated that each survey will take approximately 1 hour to complete. Three
surveyors will be assigned to the SSVE shareholder surveys. Each surveyor should be able to
cover 5 surveys a day since, as a group, the surveyors will work the entire day in only one village.
Also, selected SSVE shareholders will be scheduled in advance during their weekly SS meetings
so that they are available in their homes at an appointed time. If possible child and spouse surveys
will also attempt to pre-schedule interviews for the same day. T

The groups of five surveyors will cover an entire village each day. This is important to
avoid any exchanging of answers or commentary on the material before the surveys can cover the
entire village. Surveyors will interview the selected 3 female shareholders, the 12 male
shareholders, the 3 spouses, the 3 children and the 3 females of neighboring para selected through
the random walk. The five surveyors will complete their 120 questionnaires in 5 days (plus 1
additional travel day). At the end of each day all survey forms will be double checked by a person
other then a surveyor for a) completeness, b) clarity and c) accuracy.

One additional surveyor will be assigned to conduct the neighboring non-SSVE village
household surveys. The respondents for this survey will be selected through a random walk in
each of the villages. Two days will be spent surveying 10 households in 2 villages. During the
remaining 4 days, the surveyor will conduct the coordinator interviews and serve as a backup.
The coordinator interviews should take only one day as they may be pre-scheduled and conducted
at the Shobuj Shona Center.

A two-day training session will be prepared for the interviewers and carried out at the
PRISM office in Dhaka. During the morning of the first day all interviewers will be trained in
basic surveying methods and project-specific protocols. During the second half of the first day
and the next day surveyors will be divided into groups according to their surveys and asked to
comprehensively examine questionnaires and coding systems specific to their assignments.

Interviewers will be housed in Shibaloy and Mirzapur for the 6-day duration. They will
use rickshaws, local buses, and SSC bicycles in order to reach their survey locations, all of which
lie within hour of Shibaloy or Mirzapur SSC locations.

It is important to note that in the surveying process maintenance of anonymity will be
given the highest priority. All individuals to be surveyed will be instructed that all of the surveys
are anonymous. Their names will not be placed on the forms. This point will be strongly
emphasized so that people may answer with complete honesty without fear of reprisal. In the case
of coordinators, who are a small group, this is particularly important. Surveyors will ask each
individual surveyed to choose a slip of paper with a number. They will then write the number on
the survey and give the slip to the individual. This exercise is to demonstrate the anonymity of the
survey to the individual and also for tabulating purposes.

Surveyed individuals will also be instructed that the evaluation will focus most heavily on
group results as opposed to individual results. Therefore no single coordinator or shareholder
will be singled out and compared to others. Only group results will be documented and
presented. This is also to insure that individuals feel comfortable to answer all questions honestly
and freely.

All questionnaires will comprise (almost entirely) close-ended questions that can easily be
coded for quick computer data entry. Three tabulators will be hired to enter results into
microcomputer Paradox databases. They will receive one half day of training on project specific
data entry protocols before the evaluation and they will begin tabulation on the second day of the
survey. Tabulators will work at the PRISM office in Dhaka since electricity is more reliable than
in the Shibaloy SSC. If battery operated portable computers are available, they will be used in
preference to desk top units lacking UPS backup. It is estimated that it takes a good tabulator 5
minutes to enter 1 page of survey data. The average instrument will be approximately 5 pages.
Therefore, adding time for revision, correction and picking up forms, 45 minutes will be
considered the average time to enter and double check a questionnaire. Including a 15 minute
break and 1 hour for lunch, in an 8 hour day 3 tabulators should complete 27 questionnaires (9
per tabulator per day). In addition to the 136 survey forms, the tabulators must enter 40 time use
studies checklists (8 subjects, 5 days each) and 20 technical knowledge assessment checklists.
Tabulation should, by this reasoning, take about 8 days. Data entry will be double checked and
supervised to ensure accuracy.

After all data have been collected and entered into a database it will be subjected to
rigorous statistical analyses. Initial analyses will rely heavily on basic graphical presentation and
analysis, accompanied by simple basic descriptive statistics, cross tabulations, and correlations. A
second iteration will include simple bivariate tests, including T-tests, F-tests and Chi-Squared and
non-parametric tests for significance of differences between groups. A third iteration will include
use of multivariate techniques, primarily ANOVA and multivariate least squares analysis.
Principal components analysis and canonical correlation will also be employed were appropriate
and meaningful. Further appropriate statistical tests will be determined during the analysis.

Results will be summarized in a simple, easily understood form utilizing basic tables and
graphs. Text describing thesis results and a more in depth analysis will accompany the tables and
graphs. The final thesis, a copy of all data collected and a suggested plan for communicating and
operationalizing results will be turned into the main PRISM-Bangladesh office and the funding
sponsor (UNCDF).

All evaluations must make choices with respect to evaluation design, methodology, and
goals, etc.. With these choices come trade-offs, and consequently, strengths and weaknesses.
Although the evaluation attempts to minimize potential problem areas, it is important to openly
recognize and foresee these limitations, constraints and potentially weak areas. This awareness
allows evaluators to take measures to minimize the effects of these drawbacks. The following are
categories of areas which are limitations, or constraints and merit caution in the SSVE evaluation:

Outside Evaluation Although the SSVE evaluation relies heavily on the participation of
the SSVE project management, workers and beneficiaries, it remains primarily an outside
evaluation in that it is administered by evaluators from outside the project. The main
advantage of an outside evaluation is enhanced objectivity. It does, however, have its
draw backs. An outside evaluator necessarily lacks familiarity with the project structure
and its operations. This means that time and significant effort must be invested in simply
learning the operations of the project. Also, as an outsider it will require more time to
gain the trust and cooperation of project workers who may at first feel threatened by an
evaluation.

Survey Methodology While questionnaires and surveys can provide valuable information
to researchers, they also have their drawbacks. The costs and inefficiencies of rural
surveys are often high, including opportunity costs for research capacity and the human
costs for researchers themselves. The duration and demands of surveys are often
underestimated and exceed what was planned. Often, after data has been collected surveys
go unprocessed, unanalyzed and not read or acted upon. (Chambers, 1983). It is with
these failings in mind that the SSVE evaluation places great emphasis on the immediate
tabulation, analysis and direct feedback of results.

Another criticism of surveys is that they can produce misleading findings.
The accuracy of results is highly sensitive to respondents' comprehension of
survey questions. For the survey to be understood it must be developed in a
language that is appropriate to the audience being surveyed. Also, it is useful if the
methodology employed is not completely alien to the respondents. (Bulmer, 1983)
Mindful of this, the SSVE evaluation will incorporate the opinion of target group
members in the instrument development process through careful pilot testing. All
persons involved in the evaluation will be Bangladeshi nationals with the exception
of the primary evaluator. The instruments will be administered orally by trained
interviewers to ensure that questions are properly understood and to allow
respondents to ask questions. It is also probable that many respondents will have
had prior exposure to similar survey methodology since Bangladesh has been the
focus of much international aid - with its various attendant surveys, evaluations,
assessments and censuses. (ICDDR,B personal communications, 1993)

The accuracy of survey findings also depends upon the respondents answering questions
honestly. This may be difficult in the case of sensitive questions involving income and
landholdings (Bulmer, 1983). In other cases, respondents with good intentions may have
a "courtesy bias" in answering questions. This occurs when respondents provide
information they feel will please the interviewer. (Chambers, 1983 and Bulmer, 1983) The
SSVE evaluation will attempt to preempt these problems by taking great lengths to a)
ensuring anonymity to respondents and b) training interviewers concerning the importance
of obtaining accurate feedback for the project.

International evaluation International evaluations encounter a unique set of problems
and limitations. First, international evaluations often must deal with two languages. This
presents the challenge of obtaining conceptual and linguistic equivalence when developing
and translating instruments. Doing so requires good knowledge of the local culture and
language. The SSVE evaluation will initially prepare drafts of instruments in English
because it is common to the evaluator , evaluation personnel and both the local and
international project management. The drafts will then be translated to Bengali for pilot
testing. The translation will be done by the research assistant with the support of any
additional available project staff who are fluent in English and Bengali as well has having
some familiarity with local rural dialects. Conceptual equivalence will take priority over
lexical comparability.

International evaluations must not only deal with two different languages - they
must come to understand two different cultures. This is perhaps even more
difficult to control than linguistic barriers. Certain questions may lose relevance
and meaning when transferred to another culture. The SSVE evaluation plans to
use feedback from local target groups when developing instruments - and in this
manner hopes to minimize the effects of this type of problem.

Interviewer bias Under circumstances where surveys will be applied in areas where
illiteracy rates are high, the use of interviewers is unavoidable. This introduces the
possibility of interviewer bias into the evaluation. Inevitably, interviewers exhibit very
different background characteristics then the respondents. For example, college students
are often used as interviewers in surveys. Normally these students are of a higher socio-economic class and much younger then the typical respondent. Other differing
characteristic include education, race, religion, sex, and caste among others. These
differences can create severe communication obstacles between interviewer and
respondent (Bulmer, 1983).

In addition, respondents may be suspicious and distrust interviewers who appear to be
intruding without any immediate visible benefit. The SSVE evaluation will seek
interviewers with previous experience who possess a sensitivity to these issues. When
recruiting interviewers, priority will be given to persons with a manner and background
characteristics thought to have high potential for facilitating easy communication with
respondents and reducing perceived cultural and status differences.

Other interviewer bias problems may include recording errors, changing questions in an
attempt to "clarify or simplify," and implying a "correct" answer. The most effective way
to avoid these types of errors is through thorough concerning such issues.

This individual will be a social science graduate student from the Dhaka university
specializing in anthropology, sociology or another relevant area. It is important that this person
be female as she will need to rapidly gain the trust and confidence of her female subjects. This
person will spend an intensive amount of time with her subjects. If a male observer were used,
women may be inhibited or may not participate given cultural taboos which limit women's contact
with male from outside the family. Preference will be given to a person with experience working
in the Bangladeshi rural sector or with a rural background themselves. Fluency in written and
spoken English is a requirement for this position.

The social scientist will share responsibility for all aspects of the time use studies and case
studies. In addition, she will be expected to provide local perspective and insights to the
evaluation to ensure that it remains "in touch" with the cultural reality of rural Bangladesh.

This position will be filled by a Bangladeshi college student fluent in english with research
experience. Fluency in English is a requirement for this position. The assistant will serve as a
support person in interpreting, translating materials, assisting in pilot testing, organizing survey
logistics, and helping in supervising surveyors and tabulators.

The technical duckweed experts are individuals with an advanced agricultural degree who
have training and experience in duckweed aquaculture. These individuals must be fluent in
English. They will be drawn from internal PRISM Bangladesh staff as there are no other
duckweed experts available locally from outside the project. These individuals will also help to
develop forms and collect data for the technical knowledge assessment portion of the evaluation.
Depending on time and personnel constraints they may also continue after completing their
assigned tasks to assist with the primary survey itself.

Interviewers will be individuals with prior experience conducting rural surveys. Preference will be
given to individuals from the immediate area or with a rural background. Individuals with good
communication skills and a level of understanding of social science research will be sought. The
interviewers will be responsible for attending an intensive 2-day paid training session in order to
prepare for 6 days of interviewing.

Tabulators will be individuals with data entry experience. Preference will be given to individuals
who have worked tabulating surveys in the past. Applicants will be submitted to a data entry test
using sample surveys to ensure that they are able to enter a full page of survey data in less then 5
minutes. Tabulators will be responsible for attending a paid half day training session and
tabulating data for 8 days.

Hossain, M., 1981. "Desirability and Feasibility of Land Reform in Bangladesh." p. 91-122 In Muhiuddin Khan
Alamgir Land Reform in Bangladesh. Center for Social Studies (Dhaka, Bangladesh).

Hossain, M., 1988. Credit for the Alleviation of Rural Poverty: The Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. Series:
Research Report 65 - International Food Policy in collaboration with the Bangladesh Institute of Development
Studies (Dhaka).

Hussain, S. T. 1989. "Economic Development With and Without Land Reform in Bangladesh." The
Bangladesh Development Studies Sept. 1989, v. 17 (3) p. 119-147.

Rahman, M.S. and P.C. Sarkar. 1989. "Status and Role of Bangladeshi Women in Socio-economic and Political
Dimensions: A Qualitative Analysis." p. 170-191 In R.K. Sapru [Ed.] Women and Development Ashish
Publishing House (New Delhi, India).

Salahuddin, K., 1987. "Women and Work (1976-1985): The Bangladesh Case." In Seminar on Evaluation of
Socio-Economic and Political Status of Women in Bangladesh. National Committee for World Congress of
Women in Bangladesh (Dhaka) April 16-17, 1987.

2. The registered office of the Company will be situated in Bangladesh.

3. The objects for which the Company is established are:

I) To establish aquaculture and pisciculture business in Bangladesh and to undertake all other
businesses in connection therewith.

ii) To carry on the business of fish farming of all varieties of fish including tilapia and carp based on
Lemnaceae technology.

iii) To promote and undertake intensive and semi-intensive pisciculture based on Lemnaceae
technology.

iv) To involve individual peasant households, and in particular female produces, proportionately from
all strata of rural society in the production process of Lemnaceae and Lemnaceae based
pisciculture.

v) To promote efficient modern management system in rural enterprises.

vi) To encourage capital formation in the agricultural sector through aquaculture development.

vii) To encourage savings among landless and marginal farmers from higher productivity.

ix) To increase fish production and enhance market supply situation.

x) To establish small scale Agri-business in rural Bangladesh.

xi) To excavate and re-excavate ponds and low lying lands and erect, maintain, alter, extend
production facilities for the purposes of aquaculture and pisciculture and Lemnaceae production
on any land purchased, leased, licensed or otherwise acquired by the Company or for any of the
purposes connected with the business of the Company.

xii) To sell or dispose of machinery, materials and all articles and things belonging to the Company
and also all the products thereof either for cash or on credit and either for immediate or future
delivery and to send the same for sale to any place that may be deemed expedient.

xiii) To enter into any arrangement with the Govt. of Bangladesh or any local authority public or
municipal, railway or otherwise or with any person/persons, firm/firms, company/companies, etc.
that may seem conducive to the company's business/objects/ or any of them and to obtain from
any such Govt. or authorities or persons, firms, companies, etc. any rights, privileges and
concessions which the company may think desirable to obtain and to carry out, exercise and
comply with any such arrangements, rights, privileges and concessions and dispose of or turn to
account the same.

xiv) To carry on any other business which may appear to the company capable of being conveniently
carried on in connection with its business or calculated directly or indirectly to enhance the value
of or render profitable any of the Company's property or rights.

xv) To purchase or otherwise acquire all or any part of the business, property and liabilities of any
company, society, partnership or persons formed for all or any part of the purposes within the
objects of the Company and to conduct or carry on or liquidate and wind up any such business.

xvi) To establish branches in any part of Bangladesh or abroad and to regulate or discontinue the
same.

xvii) To enter into and carry into effect any arrangement for joint working in business, or for sharing of
profits or for amalgamation with any other company or any partnership or person carrying on any
business within the objects of the Company.

xviii) To sell, dispose, or transfer the business, property and undertakings of the Company or any part
thereof for the consideration which the Company may see fit to accept.

xix) To purchase, lease, hire, exchange by way of investment or with a view to resell, invest in or
otherwise acquire property of every kind and description and to develop and turn to account,
mortgage, sell or otherwise dispose of the same.

xx) To borrow or receive money on debenture, debenture stock, bonds, mortgage, bills of exchange
promissory note, or other obligations, or securities founded or based upon all or any of the
property including uncalled capital and rights of the Company.

xxi) To make donation for charitable purposes.

xxii) To do all other things as are incidental or conducive or in the opinion of the Company incidental
or conducive to the attainment of the above objects or any of them which may be conveniently
carried on and done in connection therewith, or which may be calculated directly or indirectly to
enhance the value of, or render profitable any business or property of the Company.

And IT IS HEREBY EXPRESSLY DECLARED that the objects specified in each sub-clause or
paragraph of this clause shall be, except where otherwise expressed in such subclause or
paragraph, in no wise limited or restricted by reference from the terms of any other sub-clause or
paragraph or the name of the Company but may be carried out in as full and ample a manner and
construed in as wide a sense as if each of the said sub-clauses or paragraphs define the objects of
a separate distinct and independent company.

4. The liability of the members is limited.

5. The share capital of the Company is Tk. l5,00,000/- (Taka fifteen lakhs) divided into 1,500 ordinary
shares of Tk. 1000/- (Taka one thousand) only with power to the Company to increase or reduce the
capital and divide the shares forming the capital for the time being into several classes and to attach
thereto respectively preferential, qualified, deferred or special rights or privileges or conditions as may be
determined by or in accordance with the Articles of the Company and modify or abrogate any such rights,
privileges and conditions as may for the time being be provided by the Articles of the company.

We, the several persons whose names, and addresses, are hereunder subscribed below, are
desirous of being formed into a Company in pursuance of the Memorandum of Association and we
respectively agree to take the number of shares in the Capital of the Company, set opposite to our
respective names:

3. The capital of the Company is Taka 15,00,000/- (Taka fifteen lakhs) divided into 1,500 shares of Taka
1000/- (one thousand) each.

4. The first issue shares shall be decided by the Board of Directors. The Directors shall as regards any
allotment of shares duly comply with such of the provisions of the Act as may be applicable thereto.

5. Shares shall be held by the share holders in their own names or in the names of their nominees who may
be any person, including a company incorporated under the Act or any financial institution.

6. Subject to the provisions of these Articles the shares shall be under the control of the Directors who may
allot the same at such time as they think fit, with full powers to make such calls on any shares during such
time and for such consideration as the Directors may decide.

7. The Directors shall have full powers to issue and allot fully paid up ordinary shares either on payment of
the entire nominal value thereof in cash or in satisfaction of any outstanding debt, liability or obligation of
the Company.

8. If by the condition of allotment of any shares the whole or part of the amount or issued price thereof is
payable by instalment, every such instalment shall when due be paid to the Company by the registered
holder of the shares.

9. Except as otherwise provided in these Articles no share holder may transfer any share, or any right or
interest therein, either by way of sale, mortgage, pledge or otherwise, without the written consent of the
other shareholders of the Company.

10. If any member intends to sell all or any portion of his shares then these shall be offered first jointly to the
existing share-holders who shall have the option to purchase the shares at a price to be agreed upon
mutually or at their fair value as determined and certified by the Company's auditors. In case the existing
shareholders do not all agree to jointly purchase the shares offered to them or does not exercise the said
option to purchase the shares within 180 days from the date of the offer, the intending seller shall be
entitled to sell such shares or part thereof to any willing buyer, who need not be an existing shareholder.

11. A certificate of title to shares, shall be issued under the Common Seal of the Company and signed by the
Directors appointed for the purpose by resolution of the Board, specifying the share or shares held by a
member and the amount paid up thereon. A Certificate of title to shares shall be issued to every person
whose name is entered as a member in the register of members. If any share certificate shall be lost or
defaced, the Directors may issue a duplicate thereof at a fee not exceeding Taka five for each further
certificate, and on such terms as to evidence and indemnity as the Directors think fit.

12. A call shall be deemed to have been made at the time when the resolution of the Directors authorizing
such call was passed calling upon the members to make such instalment payment of all moneys unpaid on
the shares, and not by the conditions of allotment thereof made payable at fixed time, and on the receipt
of such call each member shall pay the amount of every call so made and at the time and place appointed
by the Directors.

13. Every call shall give at least 60 days notice for payment specifying the time and place of payment;
provided that before the time for payment of such call the Directors may by notice in writing revoke the
same or extend the time for payment.

14. If the sum payable in respect of any call or instalment be not paid on the day appointed for payment
thereof, the Company may call upon the person from whom the money was due to pay the Company the
costs incurred as a result of the default.

15. If by the terms of issue of any share or otherwise, any amount is made payable at a fixed time or by
installments at fixed time or by instalment at fixed times on account of the shares, every such amount or
instalment shall be payable as if it were a call duly made by the Directors and of which due notice has
been given and all the provisions herein contained in respect of calls shall be applicable to such amount or
instalment.

16. A transfer of shares shall be effected by the execution of a proper instrument of transfer signed by both
the transferor and the transferee. Each transfer of shares shall be duly stamped.

17. On receipt of the instrument of transfer duly stamped and executed, the Company shall enter in the
register the name of the transferee in the same manner and subject to the same conditions as if the
application for registration was made by the transferor.

18. The instrument of transfer of any share shall be in the usual common form or in the following form or as
near thereto as the circumstances shall admit:

Shobuj Shona Matsho Khamar Limited

I/We

[Description]

[Address]

In consideration of the sum of Tk. .......... Paid to ..............

me/us

by [description]

[address]

hereinafter called the said transferor do hereby transfer to the said transferee share/shares
numbered .............. to ................ in Shobuj Shona Matsho Khamar Limited to hold unto the said
transferee and his assigns subject to the several conditions on which I/we hold the same
immediately before the execution hereof and I/we the said transferee do hereby agree to take the
said shares subject to the conditions aforesaid.

As witness our hands the .............. day of .................

Signature of Transferor

Signature of Transferee

19. Every instrument of transfer for registration shall be accompanied by the certificate of shares to be
transferred and upon payment of a fee of Tk.20.00 the transferee shall be registered as a member in
respect of such shares.

20. The Directors may with the sanction of the Company in general meeting increase the share capital by such
sum to be divided into shares of such amount and of such kind as the resolution shall prescribe.

21. The Company may by special resolution in general meeting:

a) increase its share capital by the issue of new shares of such amount as it thinks expedient.

b) consolidate and divide all or any of its share capital into shares of larger amount than its existing
shares.

c) sub-divide its shares into shares of smaller amount than is fixed by the Memorandum, so,
however, that in the sub-division the proportion between the amount paid and the amount if any,
unpaid on each reduced share shall be the same as it was in the case of the share from which the
reduced share is derived.

d) cancel shares which at the date of passing of the resolution have not been taken or agreed to be
taken for any reason whatsoever by the members of the Company. Such cancellation of shares
shall not be deemed to be a reduction of share capital within the meaning of section 55 of the Act.

23. The Directors may from time to time before recommending any dividend set apart any portion of profits
of the Company as they think fit as a Reserve fund to meet contingencies or for the liquidation of any
debenture, debts or other liabilities of the Company, for equalization of the dividend or for repairing,
improving, rebuilding, restoring, replacing or altering or maintaining any of the properties of the
Company and for such other purposes of the Company as the Directors in their discretion think fit and
from time to time deal with and vary such investments and dispose of all or any part thereof for the
benefit of the Company and may divide the Reserve Fund into such special funds as they think fit with full
power to employ the Reserve Fund or any part thereof in the business of the Company without being
bound to keep the same separate from the other assets.

24. All money carried to the Reserve Fund shall nevertheless remain and be profits of the Company
applicable, subject to due provisions being made for actual loss or depreciation, for the payment of
dividend, and such money may be invested in or upon such investments or securities as the Directors may
select and may also be used working capital.

25. The first general meeting of the Company shall be held within eighteen months from the date of
incorporation and thereafter once at least in every calendar year at such time not being more than fifteen
months after the last preceding general meeting and at such place as may be determined by the Directors.

26. The general meeting referred to in the last preceding Article shall be called Ordinary Meeting. All other
meetings of the Company shall be called Extraordinary Meeting.

27. The business of an ordinary meeting shall be to receive and consider the balance sheet, the profit and loss
account and the reports of the Directors and of the Auditors, to declare dividend, to make calls if and as
deemed desirable, and transact any other business which ought to be transacted at an ordinary meeting.

28. The Board of Directors shall in addition to the ordinary (annual) general meeting, convene an
extraordinary general meeting at least once a month to report on the business of the Company and take
approval of the decisions of the Board of Directors.

29. At least fifty per cent of the shareholders in person as are entitled to vote, present in person or proxy,
shall be the quorum for general meeting for all purposes and no business shall be transacted any general
meeting unless the quorum shall be present at the commencement of business.

30. The Chairman of the Board of Directors shall be entitled to take the Chair at every general meeting and if
at any such meeting he shall not be present within thirty minutes after the time appointed for holding such
meeting, the members present shall choose another Director of the Company and if no such Director be
present or if all the Directors present decline to take the Chair then the members present shall choose one
of their members to be the Chairman.

31. If within half-an-hour of the time for the meeting the quorum be not present, the meeting shall stand
adjourned to the same day three weeks later at the same time and place and if at such adjourned meeting
a quorum be not present the members present shall constitute the quorum.

32. At any general meeting a resolution put to the vote of the meeting shall be decided on the basis of
consensus and failing such consensus on the basis of one vote to be exercised by each shareholder.

33. The Chairman of a general meeting may with the consent of the meeting, adjourn the same from time to
time and from place to place but no business shall be transacted at any adjourned meeting other than
business left unfinished at the meeting for which the adjournment took place.

34. A member may vote at any general meeting in person or by his authorized representative or by proxy.

35. Individual shareholders may appoint proxy under instrument as nearly as circumstances will admit in the
form or to the effect as follows:

I/we [name] of [address] being a member of Shobuj Shona Matsho Khamar Limited hereby
appoint ................. of .............. as my proxy in my absence to attend for me and on my behalf at
the ordinary/extraordinary general meeting of the Company to be held on ............. day of
..................... and at any adjournment thereof.

AS WITNESS my hand this the ....day of .................

36. An instrument appointing a proxy may be deposited at the Registered office of the Company or produced
at the meeting before its commencement. The instrument of proxy shall be under the hand of the
appointee.

37. a) The company shall have not less than three Directors and not more than seven Directors.

b) The Managing Director shall be elected by the members at the first general meeting (ordinary or
extraordinary) of the Company.

38. A Director shall not be entitled to receive fees for meetings attended by him.

39. The Directors of the Company shall not be required to hold any share qualification in the share capital of
the Company.

40. The office of the Director shall be ipso facto vacated:

a) if he is found to be of unsound mind by a Court of competent jurisdiction.

b) If he is adjudged as insolvent.

c) if he or the firm of which he is a partner or any private company of which he is a Director enters
into a contract with the Company for sale, purchase or supply of goods and materials without the
knowledge the Board of Directors;

d) if he is found guilty of any offence involving moral turpitude;

e) if by notice in writing to the company he resigns from the Board;

f) if he is removed by an extraordinary resolution of the company.

41. Notwithstanding any vacancy in their body the continuing Directors may act but if the number falls below
the minimum fixed above, the Directors shall not act so long as the number is below the minimum.

42. The Directors may meet together for the despatch of business and otherwise regulate their meetings and
proceedings as they may think fit.

43. The quorum necessary for the transaction of business shall be two Directors.

44. The general direction and management of the affairs of the Company shall vest in the members and the
Directors may exercise all such powers and do all such acts and things as are authorized by the members
in general meeting.

45. The Directors shall have the power to take all decisions necessary for the day to day operation of the
Company subject to the control and direction of the general meeting.

46. The Board of Directors may meet upon 24 hours notice being given to all members of the Board.

47. The Directors shall cause minutes, containing the undernoted information, to be duly entered in books
provided for the purpose:

a) All the names of Directors present at each meeting of the Directors or any Committee of the
Directors.

b) Of all decisions and orders made by the Committee of the Directors.

c) All resolutions and proceedings of general meeting and meetings of the Directors and Committee
of Directors.

48. Any such minutes of any meeting of the Directors or of any such Committee of Directors of the Company
if purported to be signed by the Chairman of such meeting or by the Chairman of the next succeeding
meeting shall be prima facie evidence of the matters stated in such meetings.

49. The Director shall provide for safe custody of the seal of the Company which shall be used only by the
authority of the Directors. At least two Directors shall sign every instrument to which the seal is affixed.

52. The Directors shall cause to be prepared and be laid before the Company general meeting such profit and
loss account balance sheet and reports as are referred to in section 131 and 131A of the Act.

53. The first Auditor or Auditors shall be appointed by the Board and shall hold office until the ordinary
general meeting held in the following year. Thereafter the auditors shall be appointed by the Company in
general meeting.

54. The Auditors shall be entitled to receive notice of and attend any general meeting of the Company at
which any accounts which have been examined and reported on by them are to be laid before the
members and may make any statement or explanation they desire with respect to the accounts.

55. The remuneration of the Auditors shall be fixed by the Company in general meeting.

56. Every account when audited and approved by the general meeting of the Company shall be conclusive
except as regards any error discovered therein within 3 months next after such approval. Whenever any
such error is discovered within the period stated above the account shall forthwith be corrected and
thereafter shall be conclusive.

57. All notices may be given by the Company to the members either personally by sending it by hand or by
sending it by registered post to the member.

58. When notice is sent by post, service of the notice shall be deemed to be effected by properly addressing,
prepaying and posting the letter containing the notice and unless the contrary is proved, to have been
effected at the time at which the latter would be delivered in the ordinary course of post.

59. All Directors, officers or servants (even though a shareholder) shall observe secrecy with respect to the
transactions of the Company and any matter which may come to his knowledge in the discharge of his
duties, and shall be liable to compensate, reimburse and make good any loss or damage sustained by the
Company on account of his default under this Article.

We, the several persons whose names, and addresses, are hereunder subscribed below, are
desirous of being formed into a Company in pursuance of the Articles of Association and we respectively
agree to take the number of shares in the Capital of the Company, set opposite to our respective names:

is made the ................................... day of ............................................... 1992

BETWEEN

Each of the individual signatories whose signatures appear in the second schedule hereinbelow
(hereinafter called "the Licensor", which term shall include his/her heirs, representatives, successors and
assigns) of the one part

AND

.............................................................................. Limited, (hereinafter called "the Licensee") of the
other part

WHEREAS

the parties hereto wish to undertake integrated aquaculture/ pisciculture based on Lemnaceae.

ANDWHEREAS

the Licensor has land suitable for the purpose of such aquaculture/pisciculture and is willing to grant a
license to the Licensee for such purpose.

AND WHEREAS

the Licensee Company is able and willing to undertake the entire management, production and marketing
responsibilities involved in the task of such pisciculture and lemnaceae production.

ANDWHEREAS

PRISM Bangladesh. a registered NGO, with its head office at House No.67, Road No.5A, Dhanmondi
Residential Area, Dhaka represented by its branch Shobuj Shona Center, Shibaloy is prepared to provide
loan, credit and other facilities for the purpose of such aquaculture,

NOW THEREFORE THE PARTIES HEREBY AGREE AS FOLLOWS :

1. In pursuance of the said Agreement the Licensor hereby grants to the Licensee LEAVE AND
LICENSE to enter upon and utilize that plot(s) of land more particularly described in the second
schedule below for the purpose of semi-intensive pisciculture based on Lemnaceae, and to all
things incidental to such pisciculture.

2. The Licensor hereby covenants with the Licensee as follows:

2.1 That the Licensor will permit the Licensee Company to do all the acts and things specified in the
first schedule hereto over all the land described in the second schedule hereto.

2.2 That this License will not be revoked inasmuch as the Licensee will be undertaking work of a
permanent nature in the scheduled land.

Draft

2.3 That the Licensor will grant a power of attorney to the Licensee Company and PRISM appointing
them jointly and severally as the Licensor's attorney(s) for the purpose of sale of the Licensor's
land as security for repayment of the loan granted by said PRISM to the Company.

2.4 That the Licensee Company may at any time, without reference to the Licensor, assign all its
rights as Licensee under this License to PRISM.

3. The Licensee Company hereby covenants with the Licensor as follows:

3.1 That the Licensee Company will undertake improvement works on the land of the Licensor for
which the license is granted.

[[ Where the license Agreement is not with a shareholder of the Company the following clause
may be inserted as para 3.2, modified to take into account whatever scheme of payment is
desired :

That the Licensee will pay the Licensor an annual license fee of Taka ...................... payable
upon execution of this License Agreement and thereafter at the end of every 12 months. ]]

4. The duration of this License shall be 7 years from the commencement of the License. After the
expiry of the License, the Licensee shall hand over the scheduled property to the Licensor.

FIRSTSCHEDULEREFERREDTOABOVE

The Licensee is permitted to do any and all of the following things and also all things incidental
thereto.

1. Enter upon the land

2. Excavate/re-excavate the land

3. Construct embankments and other earth works

4. Use the slopes as necessary

5. Cultivate and harvest lemnaceae and all varieties of fishes

6. Restrict water use detrimental to either lemnaceae or pisciculture.

This Power of Attorney is made this the .................................................................... day of
.............................................................................. 1992

WHEREAS,

I ........................................................................................., son of ..............................................
......................................................, resident of ..................................................................................,
am the owner of the property described in the schedule below and am also a shareholder of .............
....................................................................................................... Company Limited; AND WHEREAS
I have granted a license to the said Company for the purposes of aquaculture and pisciculture on the
scheduled property; AND WHEREAS for the purpose of undertaking such aquaculture/ pisciculture the
said Company has received a loan of Tk ...............................
............................................................................................. from PRISM, Bangladesh, a registered
NGO, with its head office at House No.67, Road No.5A, Dhanmondi Residential Area, Dhaka; AND
WHEREAS I wish to stand security for repayment of the said loan by appointing the Company and
PRISM as my attorney/s to sell the scheduled property in the event of non-repayment of the said loan.

NOW THEREFORE

I, the aforesaid ............................................................................................... hereby do irrevocably
constitute, nominate and appoint the said Company and PRISM jointly and severally as my true and
lawful attorney/s to do any act and thing on my behalf and in my name for the purpose of selling the
whole or any part of my property described in the schedule hereinbelow, to receive the price thereof and
to grant receipt or effective discharge for the same and to execute and sign and get registered the sale
deeds and other deeds necessary to complete the same and to generally do all lawful acts necessary for
the aforesaid purposes.

And it is further stated to avoid any doubt that the grant of this power of attorney being coupled
with an interest, the power shall be irrevocable.

And I hereby agree that all acts, deeds and things lawfully done by my said attorney/s under the powers hereby
given shall be construed as acts, deeds and things done by me and I undertake to ratify and confirm whatsoever
the said attorney/s shall lawfully do or caused to be done by virtue of this powers given by this deed.

SCHEDULEREFERREDTOHEREINABOVE

[Details of property to be given - which need not necessarily be identical to the property for which the license is
granted]

Each of the individual signatories whose signatures appear below (hereinafter referred to as "the
shareholder") ofthethirdpart

WHEREAS

A. The parties hereto wish to undertake integrated aquaculture/ pisciculture based on Lemnaceae.

B. PRISM is prepared to provide funds, credit, technical and managerial services for the excavation,
renovation and utilization of fish and lemnaceae ponds for the purpose of such aquaculture,

C. The landowner has land suitable for the purpose of such aquaculture and is willing to grant a
license to the Company for such aquaculture.

D. The Company is able and willing to undertake the entire production and marketing responsibilities
involved in such aquaculture.

NOW THEREFORE THE PARTIES HERETO AGREE AS FOLLOWS:

1. LicensingarrangementsbetweenthelandownerandCompany

1.1 The landowner shall give to the Company a license to utilize his land for the purpose of
aquaculture/pisciculture, which shall be assignable by the Company to PRISM.

1.2 The Company shall issue shares to the shareholder for the utilization of his/her land for
aquaculture/pisciculture as spelt out below.

Draft

2. ObligationsofPRISM

2.1 PRISM shall advance the sum of Tk ........................................... by way of loan to the Company.

2.2 The aforesaid loan by PRISM shall be utilized by the Company for the purpose of the Company's
capital expenditure and operation in connection with lemnaceae based pisciculture, including the
renovation and excavation of tanks and ponds.

2.3 The shareholder shall mortgage land to PRISM as collateral security for the loan granted by
PRISM to the Company. Such land mortgaged shall not be limited only to land for which the
license is granted.

3. Issue of shares by the Company

3.1 The Company shall upon incorporation issue shares of Tk. 1,000/- each to the shareholder in
proportion to the land for which license is granted to the Company. One share shall be issued for
each decimal of land for which a license is granted to the Company.

3.2 The Company shall upon incorporation issue shares to PRISM to the extent of ......................
................ shares of Tk. 1,000/- each in consideration of the technical and managerial services to
be provided by PRISM.

4. Obligationsoftheshareholders

4.1 The shareholder agrees to stand as surety for the repayment of the loan advanced by PRISM to
the Company.

4.2 For effecting the purpose stated in preceding paragraph the shareholder shall in writing appoint
the Company and PRISM to act jointly and severally as his/her attorney(s) for the purpose of
selling the land (in case of default) described in the said power of attorney.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF

the parties hereto have signed this Agreement on the day, month and year first above mentioned.

Picture 1:Spirodela oligorrhiza or "giant duckweed" shown approximately 4 times life size. This plant is more
robust in hot weather than other species, and has a maximum protein content of approximately 40% - 45%. It is
characterized by multiple short roots per frond and a distinctly fleshy leaf. Note how duckweed plants clone
themselves, with each "mother" frond having daughter fronds.

Picture 2: Lemna minor, or "common duckweed" shown approximately 4 times life size. This plant is more
robust in cool weather than other species, and has a maximum protein content of approximately 35% - 40%. It is
characterized by a single long root on each frond and a flat, oblong leaf. Note how duckweed plants clone
themselves, with each mother frond having several daughter fronds. Small plants visible in open space within the
"duckweed mat" are duckweed plants of the Wolffia genus (see below).

Picture 3: Wolffia Species (see Footnote 14), or "water meal" shown approximately 4 times life size. This plant
is the world's smallest flowering plant, and is typically more difficult to grow than species of the other two
genera. It is quite sensitive to water chemistry and temperature. When conditions are ideal, however, Wolffia
species have the highest growth rates, demonstrating growth in excess of 1.5 tonnes per hectare per day for short
intervals.

[Footnote 14: This is one of several species of the Wolffia genus - species undetermined.]

Picture 4: A typical Bangladeshi duckweed production scenario showing the intensity of intercropping. The
lighter shade of green characterizes the crop as predominantly Lemna minor, but Wolffia and Spirodela species
will also likely be present. The pond is intercropped with "Kalmi," a robust plant now being considered for its
use in paper manufacturing. The "elephant eared" plants in the foreground are taro, a particularly useful plant,
because its leaves are used as a "spinach-like" vegetable, and its long round starchy tuber provides an adequate
substitute for potato or rice in village diets. The large bushes on the left are "arhar dal" a high-protein staple
lentil in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. Bananas (hardly visible) make up the green background at the end of
the pond.

Picture 5: A duckweed worker preparing for harvesting in the early morning. The 0.25 m2 screen is used to determine the density of the standing Lemna minor crop. The crop will be "harvested" back to a standing density of approximately 600 gms/m2. A daily increment of 100 gms/m2 (17%), for instance, is equivalent to a harvest of 1 tonne per hectare per day. The plant is capable of growth rates exceeding 40% per day.

Picture 6: Duckweed workers performing the daily harvest of Spirodela plants from a reach of the Mirzapur wastewater treatment plant. This was, at one time, the only profitable wastewater treatment plant in the world. (See footnote 15) Note, as with all duckweed aquaculture facilities, the wastewater treatment plant is also intensively co-cropped. The large bushes on the far bank are "arhar dal" (see above), backed by banana plants to the rear. This 2.5 acre wastewater treatment plant makes a net profit of approximately $10,000 per year - without charging anything to the client for treatment costs.

Picture 7: Shows the treatment efficiency of the wastewaster treatment plant depicted in 2 (above). The bottle to the right (S-1) contains primary treated effluent. Subsequent bottles have been taken at points down-stream, and show increasing treatment efficiency. The forth bottle was taken at the plant's discharge point and contains
perfectly clear deionized water. This water typically contains less than 0.01 ppm of total Nitrogen and Phosphorus, and BOD as well as BOD and TSS of less than 3 ppm (mg/l). In other words, this is the highest quality discharge you will find from any system now operating, anywhere - worldwide. The final bottle (S-6) contains a sample of river waster taken immediately adjacent to the plant. This is the water any local drinking
water plant would have to use for its intake.

Picture 1: Shows the duckweed cropping area on the Mirzapur Shobuj Shona Center. Note the intensity of
intercropping with kalmi, sugarcane, bananas, arhar dal and taro. The Mirzapur Shobuj Shona Center now has 4 hectares of land under duckweed cropping and an additional 5 hectare s of land under intensive carp, tilapia and catfish aquaculture. The Mirzapur Shobuj Shona Center also serves as the primary R&D center for Shobuj Shona.

Picture 2: Shows a simple configuration of a solar drying system utilizing inflated, 2-ply plastic piping (see
footnote 16) as a heat collector and a simple tray batch drying chamber. PRISM has been able, using variations
on this theme, to reduce total drying costs to less than 5% of the final product cost. This compares favorably
with any existing commercially available systems utilizing fossil fuel (90% of final product value) (see footnote
17)

[Footnote 16: Black plastic film on the inside and clear plastic film on the outside}

[Footnote 17: Note that, for every tonne of fresh duckweed, 910 kgs of water have to be driven off to effect
adequate drying]

Picture 3: Sign for one of the three Shibaloy Shobuj Shona Village Enterprise Corporations. This sign marks
the SSVE meeting facility.

Picture 4: Shows a typical SSVE duckweed cultivation pond. Note that floating bamboo barriers are used to
stabilize the floating crop. The small rectangular bamboo structure in the rear is a bari latrine. This is an
improved, sanitary water-seal pout-flush toilet. The sewage runoff from the toilet is fed directly into an enclosed
bamboo container through a 4" PVC pipe. There, solids are contained until they are broken down by bacterial
action, releasing nutrients as feed for the surrounding duckweed crop. It is feasible, through use of toilets and
anaerobic breakdown of other refuse introduced as fertilizer to the pond, to produce duckweed without any
requirement for inorganic fertilizers.

Picture 5: SSVE female members undergoing training at the Shobuj Shona Center in daily crop maintenance.
Here, workers learn to agitate the crop during times of stress - achieving water mixing, (cooling) separation of
dead or infected plants, and even distribution of the standing crop.

Picture 6: SSVE female members undergoing training in daily harvest estimation at the Shobuj Shona Center.
Here, workers learn how to make precise estimates of the standing crop, thus determining the amount of
duckweed that can be harvested from a given plot that day.

Picture 7: SSVE female members undergoing training in daily harvest weighing. Here, workers learn how to
measure the daily harvest from each plot. The harvested amount is recorded by the SS Coordinator and the
amount used to immediately calculate the daily performance bonus for each worker.

Picture 8: SSVE female members undergoing training in daily harvest drying. Here, workers learn how to
handle that portion of the crop that will be dried for use as poultry feed. The crop is loaded on trays and then
placed into a drying chamber using either passive or active collection of solar heat.

Picture 9: Natural stand of duckweed growing in a SSVE village. Areas such as this have been used by villagers
who are not SSVE members to produce supplementary duckweed for sale to the SSVE.

Picture 10: Side of a newly constructed SSVE duckweed-fed fish cultivation pond. Note the close proximity of
the bari households and the pond depth. Excavation is carried out at the end of the dry season to enable
maximum depth - thereby ensuring that the pond will retain water for as long as possible without need for
frequent replenishment.

Picture 11: SSVE member operating a "treadle pump" which is used to supply water to the smaller duckweed of
fish ponds. A single treadle pump is sufficient to provide water for a 1 bigha (one third of an acre) duckweed
pond.

Picture 12: SSVE member removing drying trays from a simple forced air solar dryer. The dried duckweed can
then be used as a component of balanced poultry feed.

Picture 13: SSVE members during a weekly SSVE members meeting. During such meetings, members review
performance, suggest changes, review communications from the SS Center and ratify the weekly accounting.

Picture 14: Weekly harvest of duckweed-fed carp at the Mirzapur Shobuj Shona Center. This pond is somewhat
larger than the normal fish ponds maintained by SSVE corporations. Nevertheless, harvesting is performed with
equal frequency, and the harvested fish demonstrate equal vigor.

Picture 15: A 4 kilogram Common Carp (Mirror Carp of Korfu) taken from a SSVE fish pond 8 months after
the pond was seeded with fingerlings. Four kg fish are rare for 8 months of growth, but both common and grass
carp can, on occasion, achieve even higher growth. Common carp are omnivorous feeders, directly consuming
fresh duckweed, as well as algae and the water mater sedimented on the pond bottom.

Picture 16: A market sized 250 gram Tilapia nilotica taken from a SS Center fish pond after 3 months of batch
production. Tilapia, like common carp, are also omnivorous feeders, directly consuming fresh duckweed, as well
as algae and bottom detritus. Tilapia should be grown only in monoculture - introduction into carp polyculture
systems results in eventual overloading of systems with small Tilapia recruits.

Picture 17: A market-sized 700 gram African catfish taken from a SS Center experimental pond where catfish
were grown in mixed culture with Tilapia - and the entire polyculture fed with a single input of duckweed.

Picture 18-20:Show fish typical of a weekly harvest. These picture were all taken on the same occasion. At the
top (18) are Rohu (Labeo rohita), the best liked of all local carp species, next (19) is a drum full of 2.2 kg Silver
Carp (Hypophthalmichthys moltrix), a species imported from China, and finally (20) a basket of Catla (Catla
catla) a prized Indian carp species.

Bari Bengali homestead for an extended family - often characterized by a cluster of elevated homes
and attached ponds surrounded by lush growth of fruit trees, bamboos, vegetables and other
vegetation.

BOD Biochemical oxygen demand - usually measured as BOD5 (5-day).

Carp, Silver Phytoplankton feeding carp, Hypophthalmichthys moltrix.

Carp, Common Bottom and macrophyte feeding carp, Cyprinus carpio

Catfish "Magur," indigenous predatory fish, Clarius batrachus

Catla Indigenous surface and mid-feeding carp, Catla

Grass Carp Macrophyte surface feeding carp, Ctenopharhyngodon idella

Helminths Wide range of small, egg-laying, often cyst-forming worms that live as parasites in human and
animal hosts.